NCEA Standards
The government has released draft literacy and numeracy standards that will be implemented in NCEA from 2023. The draft level 1 literacy credits require the ability to read 4 items, including one that is at least 200 words long, and to write 2 items, one of which is at least 200 words long. To provide a comparison, this blog is 240 words.
Full stops and capital letters will be needed. I look forward to this flowing through to posts on social media!
Seriously though, for years the standards for numeracy and literacy in New Zealand have been falling compared to the rest of the world. In the last PIRLS cycle, NZ literacy standards at year 5 were the lowest of any English-speaking country. Standards have been falling across ethnicities and genders, and in well-resourced homes as well as under-resourced homes.
The new NCEA standards aim to give students the skills that enable students to “engage in further learning, life, and work.”
We hope that this renewed interest in high standards will provide the impetus to move NZ higher up the international ratings conducted by PIRLS (year 5 reading) and PISA (15-year-olds: reading, maths, science) and TIMMS (year 5 & 9 maths and science).
The good news is, it can be done. Some of our students have made enormous progress this year, despite all the disruption and uncertainty—and that is with less than 2 hours per week of directed tuition.