English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:624;Page:19437] 
6.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education 
: Does he have confidence in the New Zealand Qualifications Authority; if so why? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Associate Minister of Education) 
: 
 Generally yes. 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Associate Minister now confirm that with regard to the scholarship exam he has adopted a policy whereby scholarship students will be assessed to ensure that ranking of candidates is produced by marks or grades and that a fixed percentage of students will receive awards; and can he confirm that this is a major back-down on his purist theories about the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and standards-based assessment? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: Yes no no and no. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Has he received any reports about student and teacher attitudes towards the NCEA? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: Yes I have had two reports recently. The first of them was from the  
Horowhenua-Kapiti Chronicle 
 referring to a public meeting at which the Opposition spokesperson on education announced that the National Party wished to return to a scaling system that was described by Waiopehu College principal Steve Browne as a system that had treated students unfairly in the past. Equally at the same meeting one parent Carol Smith said to the member referred to that her son who was in year 13 at Horowhenua College had had no problems with the system and that the first 2 years had been fine. Also comments were made by a distinguished teacher colleague of the questioner Mr Allan Peachey who stated recently in his publication: “I believe history will judge them”—principals who have tried to keep norm-referencing alive—“to have failed a critical test of leadership to the long-term disadvantage of students.” I think the Opposition spokesperson on education is equally failing that critical test of leadership. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: That answer was too long. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: Does the Associate Minister not think it strange that the New Zealand Qualifications Authority can retain a demeanour of sublime innocence over NCEA and a raft of other issues while all around it all hell is breaking loose; and is there not just the slightest possibility that something is indeed rotten in New Zealand Qualifications Authority’s “state of Denmark”? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I know that the member is aware that the Government has instigated a State Services Commission inquiry into how the Qualifications Authority handled the 2004 scholarship exams and that that review will also look into other aspects of our school qualifications system. The Government is seeking some assurance in this area. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Supplementary question Metiria Turei. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. This is the third time you have called the Green Party in preference to ACT. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I apologise for that. You will be called next and it will not happen again. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does the Associate Minister stand by his response to question for written answer No. 1745 that: “Currently Cambridge International Examinations have no school qualifications registered with any Government agency”; and is he surprised to learn that New Zealand schools spent $2 million last year buying Cambridge International Examinations foreign examinations—examinations that are not registered with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: Yes that is the advice I have received. I stand by that answer. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Is it normal for an education provider to fail a New Zealand Qualifications Authority audit on 32 counts in 1 year as Te Wananga o Aotearoa did in 2001; if it is not normal why did his Government increase funding to this education provider from $3 million per year to $239 million per year in spite of the massive failed New Zealand Qualifications Authority performance audits? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: My delegations do not extend any responsibility into the tertiary sector. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The question referred to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. My supplementary question related directly to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority audits. Could I ask the Associate Minister to say whether it was normal for that to happen and if it was not why was there a massive increase in funding in the way that there was under his Government in spite of the failed audits? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: No I would not regard that as a normal circumstance. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Can the Associate Minister confirm that the person who heads the New Zealand Qualifications Authority has a physical education degree and who is her political sponsor for that position? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I can confirm that it is my understanding that Ms Van Rooyen is a graduate in physical education. I have no knowledge of the appointment procedure that the New Zealand Qualifications Authority board followed to appoint her. 
Bernie Ogilvy 
: Has the Associate Minister given any consideration to merging the New Zealand Qualifications Authority the Education Review Office and the Teachers Council into some sort of educational standards authority to cut red tape and improve the kind of coordination that was missing in the Cambridge High School case as all those agencies are concerned with educational standards of some sort; if not why not? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I think it would be more logical to wait for the outcome of the reviews in train before any such considerations are given. 
Hon Bill English 
: Now that the Associate Minister has backed down on his purist stance on standards-based assessment for scholarship how long will it take for him to change NCEA levels 1 to 3 so that thousands of students who are not among our top academic students can also get a fair go when it comes to assessment? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: There is no back down or change in relation to the scholarship exam. I can confirm that the examination for New Zealand Scholarship will remain standards based. 
Hon Bill English 
: Is the Associate Minister aware that the work of the Scholarship Reference Group shows that the scholarship exam in 2004 did not rank students; if that is the case how will the New Zealand Qualifications Authority decide who gets 140 school scholarship awards which have not yet been given out and which require the authority to rank several students who gain scholarships at one school or are those 140 students going to end up with some half-baked Cabinet certificate? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: The reference group is confident that procedures can be put in place in the exam under a standards-based regime to receive exactly that goal. In terms of the historical results I am not aware of the difficulty the member is talking about. 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I asked a question directed quite precisely at the 2004 New Zealand Scholarship and at the 140 school scholarship awards which have yet to be given out—something the Associate Minister would be completely familiar with. I did not ask him about difficulties; I asked him how the New Zealand Qualifications Authority was going to allocate those scholarships and he did not answer that question at all.