This week we emailed parents in the senior school to let them know about the delayed timeline for the introduction of new NCEA (National Certificate for Educational Achievement) standards that were announced last week by the Minister of Education – the Honourable Erica Stanford.
It is always good for parents to know that NCEA is and has been a great qualification and over time our girls have travelled the world to universities and on scholarships based on their NCEA achievements. It is a world standard qualification, and while the standards have needed updating, with more emphasis placed on externally assessed standards, the changes have been ill timed.
This is because the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) ‘refresh’ was also being undertaken at the same time. The New Zealand Curriculum sets out learning objectives from year 1 to year 13. It is important to have the curriculum clearly updated and implemented before new standards for NCEA are developed as NCEA is an examined outcome of the NZC. It is critical that the curriculum comes first so that it then defines and aligns with the standards that need to be assessed.
The NCEA changes therefore needed to be delayed and this Government has taken the right step to ensure future coherence between the NZC and NCEA. This means that Diocesan will continue in 2025 to offer its own designed programme in Year 11 to springboard girls into the existing NCEA Level 2 and Level 3 standards, or into the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in their following years at Diocesan.
We will also offer accelerated subjects to girls in Year 10 to ensure that they are learning at their level of challenge in some subject areas. We encourage a diverse and engaging range of curriculum subject choices to enable students to discover their passion and strengths. Along with future guidance from our careers development team, we also have the Waiora Centre supporting girls to achieve to their potential.
It is also good to know a couple of myth busting facts about qualifications. The three qualifications typically offered by schools in New Zealand (NCEA, the IB Diploma, and Cambridge) are all capable of getting our students anywhere in the world. One is not better than the other.  It is not the qualification that does the achieving, it is the level of achievement attained by the student that counts – and not surprisingly this is usually through hard work and commitment.
Each year our girls have attained standards of Excellence and Merit endorsements through NCEA that are simply outstanding and all who have travelled or completed under or post graduate qualifications in New Zealand have excelled. As a first world country, we should have the very highest standard of educational qualification that is ours, and part of our responsibility is to work toward that goal, not just for us at Dio, but for every student in New Zealand.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the school if you require any further information.
