title: Experiences of NCEA: The challenges and limitations

authors: Arnerich, Amelia

subjects: NCEA

abstract: Aotearoa New Zealand is not exempt from the prevailing issue of student disengagement in education that has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. Failure to adequately engage in schooling can prove harmful as it increases the risk of an individual becoming NEET. Youth not in Employment, Education and Training (NEET) is a policy concern, as it demonstrates disengagement in both education and the community which can be detrimental to the economy and society. An engaging curriculum, relevant to the 21st century, is necessary to retain student interest in school. In 2002, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) was introduced as Aotearoa’s main senior secondary school qualification system. The standards-based qualification attempted to address educational inequalities and respond to the need for a dynamic and engaging curriculum. Specifically, NCEA intended to improve accessibility and achievement for marginalised students, providing all individuals, regardless of ethnicity or social standing, the equal opportunity to achieve a senior secondary school qualification. NCEA’s objectives are to prepare students for further training, education, the labour market and to equip them with the skills necessary to actively participate in wider society. This thesis carried out a study on NCEA. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the establishment, implementation, and reform of NCEA policy and practice, to better understand experiences, challenges and limitations encountered by students. The research questions included: How have education policies changed over time in Aotearoa?; What are some of the issues and problems associated with NCEA in practice?; According to academic commentary and past student views, to what extent has NCEA achieved its purposes and objectives? How do some past students view their experience of NCEA? This study utilised a mixed methods approach, examined relevant literature and conducted a survey of past NCEA students. The online survey was designed to evoke insights on student engagement; views on NCEA’s capacity to provide access to relevant 21st century learning; fairness in assessment practices; the extent to which students felt prepared for the workplace and civic duties, school implementation of the qualification system and the NCEA Change Programmes' policy refinements. The survey was an opportunity to enhance past student voice in policy discussion. Findings revealed that the majority of participants were engaged in their learning in some capacity. However, the survey also revealed there was widespread dissatisfaction with NCEA. The literature demonstrated that although NCEA was founded on egalitarian principles and implemented to alleviate educational disparities, it continues to perpetuate pre-existing inequalities. Disengagement and NEET youth remain an ongoing issue. Participants who attended higher decile schools generally had a better NCEA experience. Participants who attended lower decile schools were dissatisfied, in part due to the lack of available educational opportunities. This thesis argues past student experiences highlight engagement and relevance issues in the education system. Additionally, NCEA’s flexible design which enables interschool variation can negatively affect marginalised individuals such as Māori, Pacific Peoples and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Finally, this thesis argues there are historical and contemporary systemic barriers to achieving educational equality.

text: Experiences of NCEA: The challenges and limitations Aotearoa New Zealand is not exempt from the prevailing issue of student disengagement in education that has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. Failure to adequately engage in schooling can prove harmful as it increases the risk of an individual becoming NEET. Youth not in Employment, Education and Training (NEET) is a policy concern, as it demonstrates disengagement in both education and the community which can be detrimental to the economy and society. An engaging curriculum, relevant to the 21st century, is necessary to retain student interest in school. In 2002, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) was introduced as Aotearoa’s main senior secondary school qualification system. The standards-based qualification attempted to address educational inequalities and respond to the need for a dynamic and engaging curriculum. Specifically, NCEA intended to improve accessibility and achievement for marginalised students, providing all individuals, regardless of ethnicity or social standing, the equal opportunity to achieve a senior secondary school qualification. NCEA’s objectives are to prepare students for further training, education, the labour market and to equip them with the skills necessary to actively participate in wider society. This thesis carried out a study on NCEA. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the establishment, implementation, and reform of NCEA policy and practice, to better understand experiences, challenges and limitations encountered by students. The research questions included: How have education policies changed over time in Aotearoa?; What are some of the issues and problems associated with NCEA in practice?; According to academic commentary and past student views, to what extent has NCEA achieved its purposes and objectives? How do some past students view their experience of NCEA? This study utilised a mixed methods approach, examined relevant literature and conducted a survey of past NCEA students. The online survey was designed to evoke insights on student engagement; views on NCEA’s capacity to provide access to relevant 21st century learning; fairness in assessment practices; the extent to which students felt prepared for the workplace and civic duties, school implementation of the qualification system and the NCEA Change Programmes' policy refinements. The survey was an opportunity to enhance past student voice in policy discussion. Findings revealed that the majority of participants were engaged in their learning in some capacity. However, the survey also revealed there was widespread dissatisfaction with NCEA. The literature demonstrated that although NCEA was founded on egalitarian principles and implemented to alleviate educational disparities, it continues to perpetuate pre-existing inequalities. Disengagement and NEET youth remain an ongoing issue. Participants who attended higher decile schools generally had a better NCEA experience. Participants who attended lower decile schools were dissatisfied, in part due to the lack of available educational opportunities. This thesis argues past student experiences highlight engagement and relevance issues in the education system. Additionally, NCEA’s flexible design which enables interschool variation can negatively affect marginalised individuals such as Māori, Pacific Peoples and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Finally, this thesis argues there are historical and contemporary systemic barriers to achieving educational equality.

year: 2024-12-18

title: What Effect Does Relevant Policy Have on Pacific Peoples’ Experiences of Housing in Aotearoa New Zealand?

authors: Brown, Georgia

subjects: housing

abstract: Every New Zealander has the right to a warm, safe, and secure home. However, many people in Aotearoa experience housing that lacks these fundamental aspects. The size, quality, and affordability of Aotearoa New Zealand’s housing within both the state and private rental markets are not meeting the health or well-being needs of the nation’s people. This is particularly notable for specific sectors of the population, including those with low socio-economic status, and Māori and Pacific peoples. This thesis aims to understand and examine Pacific peoples’ housing experiences in Kirikiriroa Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand. Specifically, this work seeks to understand the context of housing policy in Aotearoa New Zealand and how that links to the experiences of Pacific home occupants. It will uncover severe issues related to housing deprivation, housing over-crowding, housing affordability, housing quality, and the relationship between health and housing for Pacific peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand. In understanding these factors of peoples’ experiences with housing, relevant housing policy is examined. Policies that are included are The Resident Tenancies Act 1986 (including the Amendment Act 2020), the Housing Improvement Regulation 1947, the Health Act 1956, the Building Act 2004, the Healthy Home Guarantees Act and the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019. Understanding how these policies function, are enforced, and are implemented by national and local governments allows insight into their effectiveness in ensuring that all of New Zealand’s population are able to access adequate and affordable housing. Assessing Kāinga Ora, New Zealand’s largest landlord, will also allow for an understanding of the housing experiences of many of the most vulnerable populations in Aotearoa. Through talanoa methodology, driven by a Pacific research team, an understanding of housing experiences is shaped around the narratives provided by seven Pacific families living in severe housing deprivation within Kirikiriroa Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand. Little qualitative research has been conducted on the experiences of Pacific peoples living in Aotearoa New Zealand. This thesis hopes to improve understandings of housing for Pacific peoples, their position in society and the impacts of relevant policy. Identifying existing issues will hopefully allow for a recognition of housing issues that will work towards being effectively improved by stakeholders essential to uplifting New Zealand’s housing space.

text: What Effect Does Relevant Policy Have on Pacific Peoples’ Experiences of Housing in Aotearoa New Zealand? Every New Zealander has the right to a warm, safe, and secure home. However, many people in Aotearoa experience housing that lacks these fundamental aspects. The size, quality, and affordability of Aotearoa New Zealand’s housing within both the state and private rental markets are not meeting the health or well-being needs of the nation’s people. This is particularly notable for specific sectors of the population, including those with low socio-economic status, and Māori and Pacific peoples. This thesis aims to understand and examine Pacific peoples’ housing experiences in Kirikiriroa Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand. Specifically, this work seeks to understand the context of housing policy in Aotearoa New Zealand and how that links to the experiences of Pacific home occupants. It will uncover severe issues related to housing deprivation, housing over-crowding, housing affordability, housing quality, and the relationship between health and housing for Pacific peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand. In understanding these factors of peoples’ experiences with housing, relevant housing policy is examined. Policies that are included are The Resident Tenancies Act 1986 (including the Amendment Act 2020), the Housing Improvement Regulation 1947, the Health Act 1956, the Building Act 2004, the Healthy Home Guarantees Act and the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019. Understanding how these policies function, are enforced, and are implemented by national and local governments allows insight into their effectiveness in ensuring that all of New Zealand’s population are able to access adequate and affordable housing. Assessing Kāinga Ora, New Zealand’s largest landlord, will also allow for an understanding of the housing experiences of many of the most vulnerable populations in Aotearoa. Through talanoa methodology, driven by a Pacific research team, an understanding of housing experiences is shaped around the narratives provided by seven Pacific families living in severe housing deprivation within Kirikiriroa Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand. Little qualitative research has been conducted on the experiences of Pacific peoples living in Aotearoa New Zealand. This thesis hopes to improve understandings of housing for Pacific peoples, their position in society and the impacts of relevant policy. Identifying existing issues will hopefully allow for a recognition of housing issues that will work towards being effectively improved by stakeholders essential to uplifting New Zealand’s housing space.

year: 2023

title: Summerhill school is it possible in Aotearoa New Zealand?: Challenging the neo-liberal ideologies in our hegemonic schooling system

authors: Peck, Mikaere Michelle S.

subjects: Matriarchal society

abstract: The original purpose of this thesis is to explore the possibility of setting up a school in Aotearoa (New Zealand) that operates according to the principles and philosophies of Summerhill School in Suffolk, England. An examination of Summerhill School is therefore the purpose of this study, particularly because of its commitment to self-regulation and direct democracy for children. My argument within this study is that Summerhill presents precisely the type of model Māori as Tangata Whenua (Indigenous people of Aotearoa) need in our design of an alternative schooling programme, given that self-regulation and direct democracy are traits conducive to achieving Tino Rangitiratanga (Self-government, autonomy and control). In claiming this however, not only would Tangata Whenua benefit from this model of schooling; indeed it has the potential to serve the purpose of all people regardless of age race or gender. At present, no school in Aotearoa has replicated Summerhill's principles and philosophies in their entirety. 
Given the constraints of a Master's thesis, this piece of work is therefore only intended as a theoretical background study for a much larger kaupapa (purpose). It is my intention to produce a further and more comprehensive study in the future using Summerhill as a vehicle to initiate a model school in Aotearoa that is completely antithetical to the dominant neo-liberal philosophy of our age. To this end, my study intends to demonstrate how neo-liberal schooling is universally dictated by global money market trends, and how it is an ideology fueled by the indifferent acceptance of the general population. In other words, neo-liberal theory is a theory of capitalist colonisation. 
In order to address the long term vision, this project will be comprised of two major components. The first will be a study of the principal philosophies that govern Summerhill School. As I will argue, Summerhill creates an environment that is uniquely successful and fulfilling for the children who attend. At the same time, it will also be shown how it is a philosophy that is entirely contrary to a neo-liberal mindset; an antidote, to a certain extent, to the ills of contemporary schooling. The second component will address the historical movement of schooling in Aotearoa since the Labour Party's landslide victory in 1984, and how the New Zealand Curriculum has been affected by these changes. I intend to trace the importation of neo-liberal methodologies into Aotearoa such as the 'Picot Taskforce,' 'Tomorrows Schools' and 'Bulk Funding,' to name but a few. The neo-liberal ideologies that have swept through this country in the last two decades have relentlessly metamorphosised departments into businesses and forced ministries into the marketplace, hence causing the 'ideological reduction of education' and confining it to the parameters of schooling.
The purpose of this research project is to act as a catalyst for the ultimate materialization of an original vision; the implementation of a school like Summerhill in Aotearoa. A study of the neo-liberal ideologies that currently dominate this country is imperative in order to understand the current schooling situation in Aotearoa and create an informed comparison between the 'learning for freedom' style of Summerhill and the 'learning to earn' style of our status quo schools. It is my hope to strengthen the argument in favour of Summerhill philosophy by offering an understanding of the difference between the two completely opposing methods of learning.

text: Summerhill school is it possible in Aotearoa New Zealand?: Challenging the neo-liberal ideologies in our hegemonic schooling system The original purpose of this thesis is to explore the possibility of setting up a school in Aotearoa (New Zealand) that operates according to the principles and philosophies of Summerhill School in Suffolk, England. An examination of Summerhill School is therefore the purpose of this study, particularly because of its commitment to self-regulation and direct democracy for children. My argument within this study is that Summerhill presents precisely the type of model Māori as Tangata Whenua (Indigenous people of Aotearoa) need in our design of an alternative schooling programme, given that self-regulation and direct democracy are traits conducive to achieving Tino Rangitiratanga (Self-government, autonomy and control). In claiming this however, not only would Tangata Whenua benefit from this model of schooling; indeed it has the potential to serve the purpose of all people regardless of age race or gender. At present, no school in Aotearoa has replicated Summerhill's principles and philosophies in their entirety. 
Given the constraints of a Master's thesis, this piece of work is therefore only intended as a theoretical background study for a much larger kaupapa (purpose). It is my intention to produce a further and more comprehensive study in the future using Summerhill as a vehicle to initiate a model school in Aotearoa that is completely antithetical to the dominant neo-liberal philosophy of our age. To this end, my study intends to demonstrate how neo-liberal schooling is universally dictated by global money market trends, and how it is an ideology fueled by the indifferent acceptance of the general population. In other words, neo-liberal theory is a theory of capitalist colonisation. 
In order to address the long term vision, this project will be comprised of two major components. The first will be a study of the principal philosophies that govern Summerhill School. As I will argue, Summerhill creates an environment that is uniquely successful and fulfilling for the children who attend. At the same time, it will also be shown how it is a philosophy that is entirely contrary to a neo-liberal mindset; an antidote, to a certain extent, to the ills of contemporary schooling. The second component will address the historical movement of schooling in Aotearoa since the Labour Party's landslide victory in 1984, and how the New Zealand Curriculum has been affected by these changes. I intend to trace the importation of neo-liberal methodologies into Aotearoa such as the 'Picot Taskforce,' 'Tomorrows Schools' and 'Bulk Funding,' to name but a few. The neo-liberal ideologies that have swept through this country in the last two decades have relentlessly metamorphosised departments into businesses and forced ministries into the marketplace, hence causing the 'ideological reduction of education' and confining it to the parameters of schooling.
The purpose of this research project is to act as a catalyst for the ultimate materialization of an original vision; the implementation of a school like Summerhill in Aotearoa. A study of the neo-liberal ideologies that currently dominate this country is imperative in order to understand the current schooling situation in Aotearoa and create an informed comparison between the 'learning for freedom' style of Summerhill and the 'learning to earn' style of our status quo schools. It is my hope to strengthen the argument in favour of Summerhill philosophy by offering an understanding of the difference between the two completely opposing methods of learning.

year: 2009