NCEA provisional data: Achievement drops as much as 8%

Provisional results for high school qualification NCEA shows some regions experienced significant drops in achievement last year.

When NCEA results were released last month, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority indicated achievement of Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and University Entrance had dropped for a third straight year.

1News can now reveal the NCEA provisional achievement rates for 2023 include:

The most significant declines are in the breakdown of results by regions.

Level 1 achievement dropped in all regions except Bay of Plenty. In the Manawatu-Whanganui region, Level 1 results slumped by 7.8% to just half of Year 11 students gaining the qualification.

In Auckland, results declined by 6% to 54.1% of Year 11 students achieving Level 1.

On the West Coast, Level 3 achievement dropped by 8%. It’s important to note the region had a significantly smaller student population than other places. In Level 2, the region’s achievement increased by 1.8%.

Achievement rates were expected to increase by up to 2% with the final results shared in April. This was because some summer school results weren’t included in provisional data, and some late results were submitted by schools, as well as reconsiderations and reviews requested by students were expected to change the picture.

The results showed the percentage of students who achieved NCEA qualifications out of the entire student population for each year level. This included students that weren’t participating in NCEA or might have left school during the year. Last year, NZQA said there was a trend of some schools not participating in a full Level 1 learning programme.

Principals told 1News there were many contributing factors to the declines last year, including the impact of years of lost classroom time caused by Covid-19 disruption; the impact of attendance declining after Covid-19 disruption; irregular classroom time caused by teacher strikes in 2023; and some students leaving school to gain employment before the end of Year 13.

Manawatū College principal Matt Fraser said the cost of living is affecting student achievement at the Foxton school.

"We've got students who are working part-time outside of school, full-time as well just to supplement household income. Parents are often working two jobs and the older siblings are looking after the younger ones.

"You want to have all of the best brain time to focus on school and when you're at school, to be engaged but if you have things that are happening outside of school that are ultimately taking precedent it can be hard to juggle those balls," he said.

He's calling for the Government to create a funding pool for schools to implement measures that will work for their community, like what happened with the Urgent Response Fund during Covid-19 to support students whose learning was disrupted by lockdowns.

Fraser said the current situation has the same level of need and if provided with extra funding, he'd invest in more teacher aides to support students to learn.

"I think its all about relationships, its about having people alongside students supporting them to do well.

"If students feel like they belong in a school and they have good connections with teachers then actually those are the things that are going to help support them realise their educational aspirations and goals and ultimately academic success if that's the pathway for them."

Education Minister Erica Stanford said she's been concerned about academic achievement for a "very long time" but is sticking to the Government's back to basics, structured approach to learning and review of the curriculum for now.

In response to the call for targeted funding to support students struggling to achieve due to personal cost of living pressures, she said schools with more economic barriers already receive equity funding and learning support funding, and can access the interim response fund.

"That's what those funding arrangements are for," she said.

Interim response funding requires a school to be unable to manage a 'challenging event' with school-based resources and expertise, a student's behaviour to be so severe that it's likely others will be harmed or people in the community or school are distressed.

The minister said the Government's focus on improving the economy will alleviate pressures on families.

"We don't want children, young people, to be out working when they should be in school.

"It's a legal requirement to be in school. At the moment it is in a very unfortunate situation where they're feeling like they have to work to support their families. Do we want that in the long term? Absolutely not."

Buller High School principal Andrew Basher said students were more aware of what was required from NCEA for what they wanted to do — including not pursuing Level 3 or University Entrance if it was not needed for their study or employment pathway after school.

“For those people who... remember school certificate. If you were 49% you were a fail, if you were 50% you were a success — the way that NCEA works is anyone can get the skills and qualifications that they need to get into a career.

“I think there's a lot more of an acceptance that NCEA is one measure of success but it's not the only measure of success,” he said.

Basher said the parameters of the statistics didn't show the full picture or reflect the range of post-school pathways students were working towards.

He said all students that wanted to go to university last year, achieved University Entrance, while some students at his school also worked towards achieving Level 2 in Year 13.

“I would say statistics in a small area don't mean a lot… our Level 1 and 2 statistics were way beyond well above national averages so you know when you have a smaller Level 3 course, two or three students can make a difference but some of those students may have left school to pursue a fantastic career.”

He said all schools wanted their NCEA results to be higher but for him, it was also important students were of good character when they left high school.

“Every year, we want every kid to pass everything you know but that's not life... every kid does their best."

Basher said he was pleased by what students who missed out on large periods of face-to-face classroom time due to Covid-19 have achieved.

“When I was at high school, we had all those opportunities, dance, balls, sport, activitie — that was taken away from a whole three or four years of students. For them to come out even with a future and to do as well as they have done I think is a credit to them because it has been difficult.

“They're also living in a household where their parents and maybe grandparents, and aunties, uncles have also experienced a lot of hardship and so it's been a really difficult time…

“I think that students are now looking at that future again and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm not sure that light will ever mean more students going to university, I think that light means they see a future and a positive future and they’re smiling again and they can interact with their peers in a free way and I think that’s great and long may it continue.”

Basher said employment opportunities and affordability on the West Coast meant more students chose to stay in the region than in the past.

“If you go to university, it's a small mortgage to go into a hall and here it is a small mortgage, and you get into a house.

“They're making some of those adult decisions maybe younger than they would have in the past but I think — supported by their families and knowing that a small community's actually a valuable and vibrant place to be,” he said.