U.E. decision defended

Press, 3 May 1984, Page 8

U.E. decision defended

PA Wellington The Minister of Education, Mr Wellington, yesterday defended his refusal to remove the University Entrance examination from the sixth form, nal examinations kept teachers and pupils up to the mark

Mr Wellington said an important key to efficient functioning of the education process was the external, and therefore objective, examination system. “Has the dismantling of the external examination system elsewhere achieved the goals hoped for? Emphatically not,” he told the North Shore ParentTeachers’ Association. “As the Americans and the Australians have found to their cost, any abandonment of excellence as the primary goal of schooling only serves to condemn

thousands to a second-rate education in which the ‘appetisers can be mistaken for the main course.’

“The first guarantor of excellence and standards is the external examination system. In a sentence, it keeps students and teachers up to the mark.”

Seven organisations recently endorsed the PostPrimary Teachers’ Association policy to have sixth form certificate as the only award in the sixth form.

They are: the Employers’ Federation, the Federation of Labour, the Association of Heads of Integrated and Independent Schools, the University Students’ Association, the ParentTeachers’ Association, the Association of University Teachers, and the Secondary School Boards’ Association.