Dept backs ‘fairer’ exam change

Press, 13 June 1984, Page 8

Dept backs ‘fairer’ exam change

OLIVER RIDDELL,

in Wellington

Students of Maori have suffered the most from the policy of scaling marks for the School Certificate examination.

The Education Department plans to consult the School Certificate Examination Board on ways of making the policy fairer.

Mounting criticism that the policy was unfair to candidates in Maori and some practical subjects has brought about the review, criticism found to be fully justified. The list includes home economics, woodwork, typing, and engineering subjects. “I am satisfied that a change of policy should be made, in fairness to these candidates,” said the Direc-tor-General of Education, Mr W. L. Renwick.

About 1300 candidates could have been adversely affected last year by the scaling system, he said. It has been proposed that scaling procedures shouid be changed to ensure a pass rate of at least 50 per cent in all subjects. This pass rate would apply to candidates for whom the examination was mainly intended — those in their third year at a New Zealand secondary school who sat English and at least three other subjects. Mr Renwick promised that if the board endorsed the proposal, he would then discuss the change with the Maori Council and the National Advisory Committee on Maori Education.

If they agreed, the change in policy would be put into effect for this year’s School Certificate examination. The examination board would also consider what to do about candidates

adversely affected last year. The scaling problem was the 'unintended effect” of policy recommended a few years ago, Mr Renwick said. For “typical” candidates in the 1983 examination, the over-all pass rate was 61 per cent. But there were wide variations between subjects. About 60 per cent of candidates were typical. The rest included extramural, resitting, and South Pacific candidates.

The average pass rate for all candidates was 53 per cent and so for the “untypical” 40 per cent of candidates the over-all pass rate was 42 per cent. The range of average marks and resultant pass rates in 1983 included:

Latin, 66 average mark, 88 percent pass rate; French audio-lingual, 62, 84; physics, 62, 84; history, 56, 67; mathematics, 53, 63; English, 52, 59; geography, 52, 59; bio-

logy, 50, 54; typing, 48, 51; woodwork, 47, 46; home economics, 47, 45; and Maori, 47. 44. The member of Parliament for Southern Maori, Mrs Whetu Tirikatene-Sulli-van, has welcomed Mr Renwick’s comments.

“It is extremely reassuring to see an acknowledgement from the head of Education that children who have sat School Certificate examinations in non-aca-demic subjects have been failed unfairly,” she said. She had asked the Minister of Education, Mr Wellington, scores of questions seeking such an acknowledgement without success and he had objected to the questions. Only 40 per cent of those sitting School Certificate in Maori last year had been permitted to pass. The figures had been even lower in 1982. Maoris would have sat

the non-academic subjects in higher proportions than non-Maori students, Mrs Tirikatcne-Sullivan said, and so Maori students would have been at a special disadvantage under the scaling policy. The great injustice lay in the assumption that there was a difference in the abilities of students who chose to take non-academic subjects. “This injustice is exemplified by the fact that most Maori students would elect to sit School Certificate in Maori, which 60 in every 100 were doomed to fail,” she said.

There was no logical reason why that assumption should have been made and no logical reason why it should have been applied. Students should be al-

lowed to pass any and every subject if they had performed well in it, Mrs Tiri-katene-Sullivan said.

By