ACT's education spokesperson Laura McClure. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
The ACT Party is pushing back on calls for new online literacy and numeracy exams to be scaled back.
Principals from schools in the country's poorest communities have banded together, saying the online tests will create a generation of school leavers with no qualifications.
After two rounds of reading, writing and maths tests last year, more than half of teens from low-income schools failed the reading and writing tests, and nearly three quarters failed the numeracy tests.
It means those students will fail NCEA until they pass the tests. They could also complete up to 20 extra credits in literacy and numeracy - but this option will no longer be available from 2028, principals from high equity index schools said.
The principals said the online tests are not the best method, and will lead to huge inequities, including for Māori and Pacific students.
However, ACT's education spokesperson Laura McClure said the principals were wanting to get rid of tests that exposed what the problem was.
"What kind of leadership are kids getting when the message from their principals is, 'this is too hard for you and we need to make the test easier?'," she said in a statement.
"As a country we cannot afford to lower expectations and create a workforce defined by mediocrity. We must aim higher and empower every student to reach their potential."
She said NCEA exists to offer real knowledge and skills, and set real standards - not to give qualifications to everyone.
"Testing against real standards makes the system accountable," McClure said.
"We need to lift our aspirations and ensure school leavers have basic competencies - such as being able to understand the employment contracts they're signing."
McClure said as a parent she was "really disappointed to hear principals discussing our children's education in this way".
"When you're a kid or a young person you're hearing a lot of noise coming out from the world ... but from your principals you really need that strong leadership and that strong positivity because it's quite easy to feel like you can't achieve something and just being told that you can and having that self belief is actually really really important."
She said the principals' worries were real, "but what I would say to that is if we have low pass rates with a specific demographic then we should actually be thinking what can we do to get them to where they need to be? Just removing these tests is not going to do any good at all".
There was still merit in having pencil and paper tests, she said, and the content of the tests could be reviewed - but the tests should not be abandoned.
"Having to do an online test is not that unusual now for our kids, I mean they're mostly glued to their phones anyway and after going through Covid a lot of them can actually sit an online test.
"I do think there is merit in having the old pencil and paper, however an online test is not that uncommon, and in fact a lot of employers will be asking you to fill in applications online with basic literacy skills, so I think it's really relevant for today's world."
"I don't think we should ever be lowering the bar in order for more people to pass ... it sets ourselves up to the next working class coming through with potentially not the skills to thrive."
Education Minister Erica Stanford has been approached for comment.
She last year expressed concern about students failing the benchmark and announced $2.5 million to provide extra help for about 10,000 teens.
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