New Zealand political party asks for names of schools under NZQA investigation

February 12, 2007

The New Zealand National party, opposition to the New Zealand Government, has called for the names of the five schools under investigation by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) for alleged breaches of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) regulations.

The breaches that are being alleged are that the unidentified five schools are helping the students to memorize the answers and allow their students to cheat during assessments. NZQA has confirmed this.

Waverley High School, Taranaki, has already been suspended from administering internal NCEA assessments after it was confirmed in December that they were letting their students cheat. The high school is supposed to be very close to being closed.

Katherine Rich, National's education spokeswoman, has said that the public, especially parents, have a right to know if a school is possibly endangering the credits, the education and future employment of a student, which Ms Rich said NZQA does not have a right to do. "The credits being earned this term will have their credibility hugely undermined if, down the track, reports conclude that the school's NCEA breaches were not rectified." "... when a school develops a reputation for being slack on assessment, it's the young person who strikes trouble when they look for work."

"Parents will be livid if one or two years down the track when NZQA's investigation is complete, another 'Waverley'... story breaks and parents find they weren't told at the time," Ms Rich said.