We are seeing a huge shake-up around training, starting with the government’s decision to put most of the Polytechnics back to individual businesses rather than part of Te Pūkenga – and similarly the return of MITO to being an industry-owned and operated organisation.
Now we also have a significant announcement, covered in this issue, of the ending of the current Secondary School NCEA qualifications with a new qualification framework that in some respects reverts to the past (in a good way).
Both the Te Pūkenga amalgamation and the NCEA Framework had some deep flaws, and I am sure not many people will mourn their passing.
The NCEA was too easy to manipulate by getting ‘easy’ and often relatively meaningless credits and was somewhat confusing for both parents and students. I am sure that many parents of my generation had initial reactions of horror when their child said they got an E – which in our day was the worst mark, but under NCEA was Excellence! Given most employers were from that generation it made understanding potential employees school results harder. The new system will revert to the original letter grades of A down to E.
From a trades perspective there will also be clearer pathways for those who want to go into trades and complete apprenticeships rather than the sole focus of being preparation for university. Whilst the devil is always in the detail, it sounds like a solid update for school qualifications, which will add to the improvements coming from the Te Pūkenga dissolution.