English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:623;Page:18872] 
4.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education 
: Why has he widened the State Services Commission inquiry into scholarship exams to include NCEA levels 2 and 3 when he told the House on 15 February that “the results for NCEA are within expected parameters.”? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister of Education) 
 on behalf of the 
 Associate Minister of Education 
: The Associate Minister needs some assurance that those results lie within acceptable parameters. When the review was set up it was wide enough to include matters other than scholarship. That is why he has asked the Martin review to look at that matter—so as to give him and the wider public that assurance. 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister now confirm that despite his rubbishing suggestions of problems with the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and labelling them publicly as nonsensical he has now started an inquiry into the results of NCEA 2004; he has asked a person with no expertise in teaching assessment or exams to carry out that inquiry; and there has been no public release of the terms of reference so that students parents and teachers can know what the inquiry is meant to achieve? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: One thing we can say about Mr Martin is that he is competent. As competent people do when they do not have expert knowledge—which he did not have when he was put on the Fire Service inquiry by the former National Government—he has engaged expertise in order to assist him. He has engaged Dr Alan Barker an international consultant resident in Hong Kong to assist him. Dr Barker is an expert in education—in particular I am advised assessment—and he has recently been engaged in a review of the examination system in public universities in Hong Kong. We are competent. Opposition members should not assume that we do things the way they do. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: Does the Minister find it acceptable that over 1 month on from potentially embarrassing information on scholarship results not being given a red alert the chief executive of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority is still unable to explain why such an oversight occurred within her department; if he does not think it is acceptable what has he done about the matter? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: David Benson-Pope has worked with the State Services Commissioner to set up an inquiry. 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister confirm that he now regards at least some NCEA results from 2004 as inappropriate or unacceptable; and when will he tell the students the parents and the teachers just which NCEA results he believes may not be valid and what he will do about it? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The Associate Minister’s view is that these things are worth looking at and that is why he has referred them to the inquiry. He has also noted that for example in 1997 School Certificate human biology had a 58.4 percent failure rate but the next year it had a 37.5 percent failure rate—quite a variation. In 2000 School Certificate had a 13.9 percent failure rate and in 2001 the failure rate was 35.9 percent. There has been variation and it will continue. The inquiry will give us advice as to whether this situation is different from the past. 
Hon Bill English 
: Has the Minister seen a statement from the Hawke’s Bay science and technology teachers’ association that states that in the case of Havelock North High School students who placed first and third in the secondary schools national architectural design competition failed level 3 graphics; is he surprised that the Western Bay of Plenty Science Teachers Association has stated: “Dedicated and experienced teachers in this group have expressed a strong sense of disillusionment and frustration to the point that some have expressed that they may give this all away.”; and how does his sneaking out an announcement about an inquiry into NCEA build any confidence that he has any goodwill towards the students and teachers of New Zealand? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: There were three questions there. Two may be addressed. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It is my understanding that David Benson-Pope has not seen that but he has seen a suggestion that NCEA is ultimately the best tool for improving the high school system and that the Cambridge exam is a dead-end—and that advice comes from Allan Peachey.