All high schools should teach Cambridge International Examinations Curriculum
ENGLISH 1.5 FORMAL WRITING
By Connor Slattery
All New Zealand Schools Should Abandon NCEA and Follow the Cambridge International Examinations Curriculum!
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement - or “NCEA” – was introduced earlier this century between 2002 and 2004. Its primary objective is to offer a standard-based, as opposed to norm-based, system for assessment. In evaluating only a student’s self-knowledge and understanding, NCEA promotes mediocrity. With no comparison to more advanced students, the system provides no incentive to excel. The Cambridge International Examinations curriculum consists of an exam at the end of the year for each course. From this exam, the applicants receive their final grade for the subject. This avoids internal work, which NCEA is largely comprised of. Internal assessment often leads to inconsistent marking and unfair biased judgment of student work. The Cambridge International Examinations curriculum, in being a largely exam-based programme, prepares students for tertiary study better than NCEA. I believe the Cambridge International Examinations will provide a more advanced structure and a far superior academically challenging course that NCEA has not successfully implemented.
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement deeply encourages a sense of mediocrity among its students. The system is developed and structured in a manner that allows students to “do just enough”. This essentially creates a pattern of settling for low achievement among the average student. In many cases it becomes acceptable for the average student to meet the bare minimum requirements of an assessment to pass. They are aware that in “Achieving” the standard of assessment, they will receive the same number of credits as the next student, who may have received an “Excellence” grade. When comparing two different exam scripts that received an Excellence grade and therefore the same quality of credits, one of the papers may have
By Connor Slattery
All New Zealand Schools Should Abandon NCEA and Follow the Cambridge International Examinations Curriculum!
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement - or “NCEA” – was introduced earlier this century between 2002 and 2004. Its primary objective is to offer a standard-based, as opposed to norm-based, system for assessment. In evaluating only a student’s self-knowledge and understanding, NCEA promotes mediocrity. With no comparison to more advanced students, the system provides no incentive to excel. The Cambridge International Examinations curriculum consists of an exam at the end of the year for each course. From this exam, the applicants receive their final grade for the subject. This avoids internal work, which NCEA is largely comprised of. Internal assessment often leads to inconsistent marking and unfair biased judgment of student work. The Cambridge International Examinations curriculum, in being a largely exam-based programme, prepares students for tertiary study better than NCEA. I believe the Cambridge International Examinations will provide a more advanced structure and a far superior academically challenging course that NCEA has not successfully implemented.
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement deeply encourages a sense of mediocrity among its students. The system is developed and structured in a manner that allows students to “do just enough”. This essentially creates a pattern of settling for low achievement among the average student. In many cases it becomes acceptable for the average student to meet the bare minimum requirements of an assessment to pass. They are aware that in “Achieving” the standard of assessment, they will receive the same number of credits as the next student, who may have received an “Excellence” grade. When comparing two different exam scripts that received an Excellence grade and therefore the same quality of credits, one of the papers may have