NCEA Information Evening
In lieu of our NCEA Information Evening that would have been held this week, this article and presentation will assist parents and caregivers new to NCEA to develop a good understanding of the system your son will engage with for the first time.
NCEA (National Certificate in Educational Achievement) at Level 1 is a student’s first time engaging in formal assessment tasks with a goal to get a formal qualification by collecting enough credits. They have had the occasional class test, research task for homework and some school-based examinations in the past, but these have been in preparation for this year.
To help make this relatable to students the example I use to describe NCEA is to say it is like learning to ride a bicycle. The end goal is to be able to ride, but there are some milestones/steps that you need to overcome to achieve this. Because we want the experience to be a positive one, the bike has training wheels and is the appropriate size to give the best chance of success. The bike is adjustable so it can be tailored to suit the rider as well.
NCEA Level 1 is a lot like this too. Students are being introduced to formal qualifications for the first time so we do not want to scare them off with tasks that would be beyond their capabilities. Each subject will have some individual tasks that check a student’s knowledge and understanding of small parts of the big whole that makes up their subject. Different ways of testing this knowledge exist to allow for teachers to be flexible (where possible) to help each student have the best chance of success.
The overall goal/target is a minimum of 80 credits. Each task will have credits associated with it, the number reflecting the amount of time and work required. There are other little milestones that need to be achieved as well, specifically a level of literacy (reading/writing) and numeracy that equates to 10 credits of each. These can come from a range of subjects beyond English and Maths, but most often they are covered off in these classes.
A Year 11 student will have 6 subjects, so that works out to be 14 credits per class as a rough goal. You will see this number become important for subject endorsements and University Entrance on the presentation, so it is a good minimum target to aim for.
Like learning to ride a bike, there is an element of resilience and perseverance needed and NCEA is no different. The important part we remind students is that each individual assessment is a small portion of the whole, so if they are unsuccessful after trying their best then it is not going to prevent future success in the next topic and their overall qualification.
Please see the following links to assist further in your understanding.
School presentation of NCEA: https://youtu.be/hPcXXzTnDJQ
NZQA produced animation that explains NCEA: