Concerns over low pass-rates for new NCEA corequisites

Educators have raised equity concerns following recently released data showing low pass rates for new NCEA corequisites.

Around 54 percent of students who sat the numeracy corequisite failed, and for Māori and Pacific students that figure rose to 77 and 71 percent respectively.  

Over half of Māori and Pacific students failed the reading and writing corequisite. 

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Educators say these results indicate the corequisites could be widening equity issues rather than solving them.  

“In general we’re concerned about the corequisites… it’s not helping with the equity gap at all, in fact it’s exacerbating it. 

“The literacy and numeracy corequisites are not helping in terms of students being able to access the qualification,” says Vaughan Couillault, Secondary Principals Association of NZ President.

Couillault adds that the poor results may reflect the nature of online exams rather than actual literacy and numeracy rates in teens. He added that teachers were finding the new NCEA Level 1 changes difficult to work with.  

Pip Tinning, Association of Teachers of English president said the results were “absolutely horrific. 

“It’s really concerning that there has been little shift in terms of equitable outcomes for those groups,” said Tinning, referring to Māori and Pacific students.  

She added that teachers were questioning if the corequisite tests were fit for purpose, and whether students were well supported for the test.  

Figures show that despite the allowance for students to sit corequisites multiple times, subsequent attempts on the test showed low pass rates.  

Most students resitting the corequisites failed again, countering the idea that multiple resit attempts would mitigate barriers to achieving the corequisites.  

Porirua Principal Ragne Maxwell said that the high failure rates may indicate inequities with the test administration and format, as some students who failed the corequisites were deemed by teachers to have the appropriate skill and level.  

“For students for whom an online test is not a valid way to assess genuine literacy skills… the online test is [the] problem, doing it more often won’t make a difference to that” 

Kiri Turketo, principal of Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate agreed, stating there were infrastructure issues associated with accessing the online exams.  

A (temporary?) alternative 

Following sustained concerns from the community around corequisite pass-rates, the government has decided to extend the alternative pathway for students until 2027. 

In addition to the corequisites, students can meet the literacy and numeracy requirements by achieving specific NCEA standards. 

Minister of Education Erica Stanford said the move was a response to school feedback on the corequisites. 

“I’ve asked my officials to extend [the alternate pathway] for two years because it’s been very clear to me that just by putting an assessment in place doesn’t mean that kids are suddenly, magically going to get it.”

Stanford added that schools are struggling because of inadequate preparation in pre-high school years. 

“The issue has been that we haven’t put anything in at primary, intermediate to get these kids ready. And so of course they’re not doing as well.” 

Stanford said she was seeking advice on options including making the alternative pathway permanent. She said that ideally an NCEA certificate should be a guarentee of literacy and numeracy in-and-of itself, making the corequisites redundant.

Couillault said the alternative pathway was important to mitigate the issues of online assessments. 

“It’s not dumbing down. It’s not a soft option. It requires students to go and find an additional 20 credits over a period of time… it’s probably the harder option in terms of time commitment, but it helps in dealing with the students that point-in-time, exam-type assessments freak them out or they for whatever reason don’t perform,” he said.