The introduction of the National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA), as the key school-based components of New Zealand’s National Qualifications Framework (NQF) has been accompanied by controversy around a range of issues.

It seems that much of the debate has centred on surface level symptoms, and has not probed the deep underlying causes of the tensions.

In this article I locate the assessment changes of the NQF/NCEA within the “knowledge society” imperative for “life-long learning” and explore consequences of the expectation that assessment can serve this overarching goal at the same time as the results are used for accountability purposes – that, is for “raising standards”. The tensions created by these conflicting expectations must be confronted openly before they can be resolved.

The full journal article published in:
New Zealand Annual Review of Education, 14, 2004. p. 27-38

Full text download: www.victoria.ac.nz/education/research/nzaroe/issues-index/2004/pdf/text-hipkins.pdf