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School exam too hard for pupils

ONE in five school pupils dropped out of an NCEA paper last year because they found it too hard and workloads too heavy, a Qualifications Authority survey has revealed.

The survey of teachers and pupils has revealed further criticism of the NCEA exam system, including that many pupils pulled out of certain standards.

Each National Certificate of Educational Achievement subject contains up to six standards.

The authority has come under fire after it admitted its elite Scholarship exams were flawed. Huge variability in other levels of NCEA was also found and government inquiries have begun.

About 4500 teachers and 380 pupils responded to the authority's annual feedback survey and commented on various aspects of the exam process.

Of the 376 pupils who responded, 21 per cent had withdrawn from a standard after they had entered it. Reasons included heavy workloads, a lack of time to complete assignments and difficulty.

Survey results also showed some teachers and pupils thought not enough time was allowed for pupils to complete exams, and that instructions to teachers were sometimes inadequate.

Teachers were generally positive about the exams and said they were set at appropriate levels. They rated content and layout of exams as good to excellent and pupils gave full support to internal assessment in preference to exams.

Authority group manager Kate Colbert said that the feedback was important and would be passed to the Education Ministry and examiners.

The high dropout rate for certain standards highlighted the flexibility of the new assessment system, she said.