Nearly 40 principals have banded together to slam the Government's NCEA review, calling it "rushed" and a "failure".
The principals took out a full-page ad in the Sunday Star Times today to grade the review with a "fail mark", calling it "flawed".
Last month, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced plans to scrap NCEA level one exams and halve the number of credits as part a review of the NCEA.
Mr Hipkins responded to the open letter outside Parliament today, saying the backlash towards the open consultation process was "a bit of a surprise".
"I think you can read what they put in their advertisement a number of different ways," Mr Hipkins said.
"I think it's really important that young people are involved in this. I think it's really important that we make much more effort to engage with young people on this than has ever been done before because, ultimately, it's their futures that we're talking about."
The Minister said the advertisement signatories' views on NCEA are well known.
"They are much more traditional in their thinking. And we do want to hear from them, but we also want to hear from people who've got different views," Mr Hipkins said.
Mr Hipkins says he's open to extending the consultation period beyond four months if needed.
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