'Certificate developing’

Press, 5 July 1977, Page 5

'Certificate developing’

The Sixth-form Certificate was continually being developed to meet the needs of schools and the community, the Assistant Director--General of Education (Mr P. W. Boag) said in Christchurch. Mr Boag was giving a paper on the Sixth-form Certificate to the annual conIference of the Post-Primary i Teachers’ Association princi-l pals’ advisory committee. The development of such (an award must be a joint! ! enterprise between several j (interest groups, Mr Boag) (said. The Department of Edu- ' cation and schools were -clearly important. Administrative changes to (the award were part of the -department’s continuing con- ( cem that these aspects be! efficient and that schools be! relieved of as much of the! administrative chores as pos-l sible. Other changes were in line j with the department’s initial! intentions that the Sixth-form I Certificate be flexible enough ( jto meet wishes of schools! and accommodate the ever-j -changing face of secondary! education, said Mr Boag. ( The award was designed to I

■ 1 be clearly useful to the needs 11 • (of students and schools. It! ! (was not intended to become (s ,(an educational or vocational)) .'end in itself with the risk 1 . | that interests of students and - -(teachers could become subor-|: dinate to efficiency of the| i award, or even to the voca-|' ■ tional purposes of predictionj' ■ and selection for which it I 1 '(might be used, he said. ( ! “I think it important that -any new award must of neces(sity aspire to a credibility land a status in the com--1 j munity that is as high as posJsible,” said Mr Boag. For this reason the depart- : ment had decided that standards in the Sixth-form Certificate award must be tightly controlled. Mr Boag said that there .(had been “vague statements" (about “widespread dissatisfaction” among schools about |the Sixth-form Certificate and -a lack of understanding about (its working. “I must say I ) I regard these as overstate(ments of the situation,” he | said. J Mr Boag said that while (there were areas those at the i conference and he would (agree were not entirely satis- - factory, none of the feedback

jhe had been receiving added i up to a picture of such wide-' (spread dissatisfaction as these (statements might have them (believe. I “What we are trying to do (is develop an award at the - sixth-form level that suits (the needs of schools and the (community. I think we are, I on the way to this,” he said. | I (