Rumbles Under the Education "Hood"

Beware Rising Tides

The NZ Herald reports that a "top" New Zealand secondary school, Westlake Boys High School has decided to drop the Cambridge curriculum and exams and focus exclusively on New Zealand's home grown, secondary educational qualification, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).  [For an insider's analysis of the boondoggle that NCEA has become, click here, here, and  here.]  Those remaining secondary schools on Auckland's North Shore who still offer Cambridge are likely to be arranging a quiet celebration.  Parents will vote with their feet--as they always do.

Here is a sample of the responses from a selection of schools still offering Cambridge:

There are about 70 schools in the country offering Cambridge. Yesterday, some principals said they would not be following suit.  Roger Moses, of Wellington College, said the school had offered Cambridge in maths for about eight years, to provide an extra challenge for high-performing students.  He said that was partly because if students sat New Zealand Scholarship early, at Year 12, they weren't entitled to the monetary prize, which was "absurd".

Avondale College's Brent Lewis said their system was based on student choice. "If students want the competitive environment and greater rigour and a less minced form of assessment, then they will choose Cambridge.  "NCEA is good for those who want more support in teaching and learning, and more flexibility," he said.  Avondale's top scholar received a scholarship to Cambridge University last year, which Mr Lewis said would not have happened if he had taken NCEA. [NZ Herald]

Recently we were chatting with an aspiring teacher who had completed a degree in Science at Auckland University.
  Asked about Cambridge versus NCEA, she said that she had matriculated at Auckland University having secured an NCEA qualification.  She said that she gradually discovered that fellow students knew a whole lot more about science subjects and maths than she did.  She also discovered that most of these colleagues had graduated from schools using the Cambridge curriculum and qualifications.

The Teachers Union has called for a ban on all Cambridge curricula and exams in state schools.  The union hates competition--despite the fact that it presented a paper at its recent conference which eviscerated the NCEA and actually raised the question as to its survival in the NZ government schooling system.

Head of the PPTA, Angela Roberts, said it wanted Cambridge gone as it was undermining NCEA, and was calling for a ban.  "The marketing exercise implies that Cambridge is 'better' than NCEA, and it's not," she said.  The union said part of the issue with NCEA was outside influences on the qualification - such as the Government's 85 per cent pass target, or the universities' interpretations of what "success" looked like - which were hampering NCEA's ability to be flexible. [NZ Herald]

Poor old Angela would prefer a curriculum and qualification system in government schools that was so flexible a contortionist would appear like a concrete mannequin in comparison.  A multitude of educational sins can be hidden between the crevices of a flexible curriculum, as Angela well knows.  However, the union's enemies are, firstly, the government, which for some inexplicable reason, has dared to set performance targets in its own schools.  How inappropriate.  The second traitorous group are NZ universities who have a peculiar interpretation of success--something to do with measuring their degree qualifications against international benchmarks.  Doubly inappropriate.  No wonder the protectionist union is in such high dudgeon.  No wonder it is calling for the dreaded ban.

We predict that Westlake Boys High School will come to rue the decision to leave Cambridge.  Its principal defended his decision in the following terms:

Mr Ferguson said the decision was something of a gamble, but as enrolments for next year were up 10 per cent, it may have paid off.  "It shows us people are choosing the school rather than the pathway, and that the community have faith in our direction."

What Mr Ferguson has chosen to overlook is that immigration and housing development in his catchment area has likely produced a substantial general population increase.  A rising tide lifts all boats.  For a time.  Watch parents begin to vote with their feet and move their sons out of Westlake to neighbouring Cambridge schools.