Many students might be feeling a bit anxious about their NCEA assessment results this year because of the interruption to their face-to-face learning programmes through the COVID lockdown. However, there are significant ways that teachers are working with NZQA to minimise the effect that a loss of face-to-face learning time will have on outcomes and results for students.

As happened last year, NZQA have put together a schedule of support for students. As in 2020, these changes include Learning Recognition Credits (LRCs), which are based on the number of credits students achieve during the 2021 school year.

For every 5 credits earned through assessment, students are given 1 Learning Recognition Credit (LRC), up to a maximum of 8 credits for Level 1 and a maximum of 6 credits for Levels 2 and 3. This means, for example, that to gain a Level 1 certificate, a student will need a total of 72 credits (before LRCs) rather than 80 credits. LRCs will be calculated based on all the credits students achieve in the 2021 academic year – including credits earned before and after the COVID-19 lockdown, and in end of year exams. NZQA will do the calculations before students get their results. There are also changes to the requirements for course and certificate endorsements which may be viewed here.

In addition to these changes, end of year exam and portfolio submission dates for all students have been delayed, providing students and teachers with two additional weeks of time for teaching, learning and assessment.

We want to assure students and parents that there are supports in place. The success of our 2020 students who were awarded LRCs as a result of the lost face-to-face teaching and learning time gives us a level of confidence that our 2021 students will be on track to achieve as they would have without the loss of face-to-face teaching time.