School exams on way out

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32702, 3 September 1971, Page 16

School exams on way out

(By our education reporter)

The next seven years will see the end of the school certificate and university entrance examinations as they are now known, in favour of a system of internal assessment. The new system will take more note of the pupils’ personal abilities than is possible under the present examinations. Internal assessment is not Some radical, new development It has been in use for many years under another name—accrediting-—for assessing many pupils for university entrance. The real change will come however when the external examinations are removed and university entrance and, much later, school certificate must stand on their own, based on the assessment which teachers within each school give to their pupils.

“CANNOT BE RUSHED” Twice in the last fortnight the Minister of Education has said that an extension of internal assessment was inevitable. However, he has given a caution to teachers and the community that such a process cannot be rushed by those who "would sweep away the present structure in one stroke.” It is clear from the recent conference of the Post Primary Teachers’ Association that many teachers would wish to take such precipitate action, not being prepared to wait until the first planned step for internal assessment —the new sixth form certificate—has proved itself. The success, or failure, of internal assessment rests with this certificate, now only in its second year, for, unlike university entrance, it has no “back up” examination.

BROADER CERTIFICATE This certificate recognises the need for a broader range of subjects in the sixth form. At present university en-

trance with its limited range of subjects dominates the sixth form, yet only 35 per cent of sixth form pupils will attend university. The sixth form certificate, as Mr Taiboys has emphasised on a number of occasions, “will provide much more realistic goals for the increasing number of Form VI pupils not going on to university.”

The development of this certificate, with its reliance on the personal qualities of pupils rather than exclusively

on academic performances, was greeted enthusiastically by the State Secondary School Principals’ conference this year. This group wishes to see the certificate as the only assessment at Form VI level. FATE OF UJE. EXAMS The question as yet unanswered however is what will happen to the present system of university entrance examinations. The secondary-school principals want to have entrance to university based on grades obtained through the completely internally assessed sixth form certificate. Such grades and subjects would be refined by the Universities Entrance Board.

This board however has statutory authority to maintain a parity of standards for university entry and any change in its function would have political implications. One concern which is taxing many connected with internal assessment is the difficulty of keeping a parity of standards once the external prqp of an examination is removed. NATIONAL STANDARDS A situation might develop where one school became a better school in which to be internally assessed than another school. To counter such a situa-

tion, teachers and the Department of Education are looking at means of ensuring that national guides are given for the assessment. New avenues in teacher training and re-training will try to remove the reliance which many teachers place on examination results.

The experience of education systems in Scandinavia, Canada, and Australia will assist progress towards internal assessment, but more important perhaps will be the steps taken to make the. New Zealand public aware of the changes that will result from this. As yet there is no co-ordi-nation to this end. It is understood, however, that within the next two years a committee will be formed to assist employers, parents and the general community to appreciate the significance of the move away from examinations, which have been so much part of New Zealand education for the last 140 years.