Awatere Huata Donna: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Awatere Huata Donna: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:619;Page:15101] 
5.  
DONNA AWATERE HUATA (Independent) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: Was it his intention that any school would achieve a 100 percent pass rate in NCEA; if not why did the New Zealand Qualifications Authority not investigate this at Cambridge High School until credit-cramming practices were reported in the media? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Acting Minister of Education) 
: 
 There is no set pass rate and students are expected to achieve at the level they are capable of. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority regularly visits schools and visited Cambridge High School in 2003 but the school did not disclose the existence of its achievement recovery room as the authority would have expected from a school that was operating professionally and with integrity. As soon as the New Zealand Qualifications Authority became aware of the issues at the school around the same time as the media it moved to investigate and subsequently issued a compliance notice telling the school to stop the use of its achievement recovery room. Two statutory managers are now working in the school alongside the board. 
Donna Awatere Huata 
: Can the Minister recall the Minister of Education assuring this House and the select committee that systems he had in place including moderation a higher level of external exams and visiting inspectors would ensure that the kinds of practices now being revealed could not happen and does the minister now regret foisting on New Zealand an untried and untested exam system that has been rejected by overseas countries and rejected by 80 percent of Post Primary Teachers Association teachers; if not can he explain himself? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I assume that the Minister still assumes that giving that advice was the right thing to do. The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) exam is something that he does not regret introducing. It is a system that ensures we gain information about the real learning of students. We know what they achieve and to what level and that will serve this country in the 21st century a whole lot better than an exam system that allowed 50 percent though and 50 percent to fail and meant that we never knew what they knew at all. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Can the Minister clarify for the benefit of members of the House how schools are monitored for the quality of NCEA results and reporting? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Schools are visited regularly by school relationship managers who work closely with the schools to ensure consistency of standards. There is also regular moderation of internal assessment. Moderation means that results in one school are checked with other schools’ results so that a consistent national standard is maintained. This new approach means there is actually more national consistency of standards than there was under the old School Certificate Sixth Form Certificate and bursary system. The quality of the NCEA system is backed by the Principals Council chairperson Don McLeod who said: “NCEA can provide far richer diagnostic assessment information than the old School Certificate system could and still mark the level of achievement of any given student so that employers can see what they have in front of them in a job application.” 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister confirm that the New Zealand Qualifications Authority report into Cambridge High School says that the credit recovery room had been operating for 2 years and is he aware that during that time the school would have received probably over a dozen visits from various educational agencies and what does that say about their competence? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: No I am afraid answering on behalf of the Minister I cannot confirm the exact details of the number of visits but I do know there were visits and I do know that the New Zealand Qualifications Authority has made it clear that this particular activity within the school was actively hidden from it. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: Is it not true that under a standards-based assessment system it is theoretically possible and ideally desirable for all schools to have 100 percent pass rates and that the issue is not about percentage pass rates but about the number of breaches of the law that had to occur to enable Bill English to have those scripts in this House today? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I can confirm the first part. A standards-based system is of course one where we would hope that people achieve standards and if they get to 100 percent then that would be a sign of the system working as well as any other sign within the system. On the second part of the question yes I am looking forward to Mr English bringing his evidence to me. He makes a lot of claims here and I am looking forward to seeing that evidence so I can find out how it was gained what it says and whether he has acted in a right and proper fashion.