NCEA

This is a comprehensive picture of the current experiences and challenges for secondary schools in New Zealand. It presents the findings from NZCER's national survey of secondary schools, conducted in July and August 2015.  It includes the perspectives of principals, teachers, parents and board of trustee members on a wide range of issues.

This report documents views and experiences of NCEA from NZCER's 2012 National Survey of Secondary Schools. It shows support for NCEA has remained high among principals and consolidated among teachers, school trustees and parents. It’s the first time parental support has risen above 50 percent in the survey series and it was higher among parents with a child in the senior school.

Schools have generally welcomed the recent changes to NCEA such as endorsement of whole courses with merit or excellence and the increased support provided by best practice workshops for teachers. However the report shows the high teacher workload associated with NCEA remains unresolved. It also explores views on whether NCEA is driving the curriculum and includes responses to the Government’s recently announced policy target that by 2017, 85 percent of students should gain an NCEA Level 2 qualification or its equivalent.

This report discusses the impact of NCEA on schools' and teachers' thinking about curriculum. It was funded from NZCER's purchase agreement with the Ministry of Education and is intended to draw on and contribute to NZCER's ongoing NCEA-related research. It explores how innovative teachers and schools think about and enact curriculum change enabled by NCEA.