Opinion: Rethinking NCEA - What We Need from a National Assessment Framework That Serves ALL Learners

By Claire Amos

As a school leader who believes in the power of equitable, future-focused education, I actually agree with the Minister that it’s time for a bold, evidence-informed rethink of our national assessment framework. NCEA, while imperfect, offers a solid foundation, but we must now refine and reimagine how it serves our diverse learners and how it supports meaningful, inclusive learning across Aotearoa.

We need an assessment system that has academic rigour AND is socially just, grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and committed to enabling every learner to thrive. The OECD’s Future of Education and Skills 2030 project reminds us that assessment must evolve to reflect the complex, adaptive skills young people need, not just assess content knowledge, it must also assess the ability to collaborate, think critically, and solve real-world problems. NCEA, our national assessment framework, must recognise and reward this broader definition of success, while actively dismantling structural barriers to equity.

A future-ready NCEA must also contribute to our nation’s and its young people’s economic and social prosperity. Assessment should not simply measure past performance, it should be a launchpad into future opportunities. A well-designed NCEA system helps build a pipeline of skilled, diverse talent for the industries, innovation sectors, and social services of tomorrow. When done well, it becomes a lever for unleashing the full potential of all learners, particularly those historically underserved by the system. NCEA should not become a sorting hat, a mechanism for sorting the winners from the losers and the future “haves” and “have nots”. Whatever we do as part of our NCEA reforms, our national qualification must meet the needs of ALL of our young people and not just serve to widen the divide in an already fractured education system.

A reimagined NCEA should be built on several core principles:

• Purposeful, Balanced Assessment - We must shift away from over-reliance on high-stakes exams and focus instead on a balanced assessment ecosystem. That means a rich blend of internal and external assessment, with assessment for learning at its heart. External exams matter for some learners, but they are not the only or best measure of learning. Internal assessments and portfolio-based approaches provide a fuller, more equitable picture of student achievement, especially when supported by robust moderation.

• Integrity and Trust Through Moderation Concerns about the reliability of internal assessment are valid, but the solution is not to strip autonomy from teachers. Instead, we need the systems and technology to support trust. A national digital moderation platform (long discussed but never delivered) must be prioritised. Real-time peer review, moderation, and professional conversations can ensure rigour without resorting to regressive control mechanisms. OECD research on assessment integrity shows that shared professional accountability outperforms surveillance models in terms of both effectiveness and morale.

• Flexibility Without Streaming - The introduction of a two-level NCEA - Foundation and Graduate makes sense, but we must avoid rigid year-level tagging or artificial ceilings. These certificates should be milestone-based, not time-bound. Learners should be able to achieve Foundation or Graduate level over different timeframes, reflecting individual learning journeys. The option to build towards University Entrance and/or a Vocational Certificate with overlapping standards where appropriate would support broad, non-linear pathways. But we must guard against creating streamed tracks that lock learners into futures they did not choose.

• Resisting Compulsion and Standardisation - There is growing concern across the sector about potential moves to reintroduce compulsory subjects or compulsory standards in senior secondary education. Such a shift would be deeply inequitable and anti-innovative. It would undermine the strength of NCEA: its flexibility to respond to diverse learners and local contexts. Similarly, reverting to pen-and-paper assessments out of fear of AI would be a step backwards. Instead, let’s invest in smart digital platforms that enhance authenticity, integrity, and personalisation of assessment.

• Investing in Assessment Capacity - We must invest in the people who make assessment work. That means national resourcing for assessment capability building - especially in internal assessment design, moderation, and universal design for learning. Facilitators, PLD, and time for teachers to engage in assessment as a professional craft are critical if we want meaningful, equitable outcomes.

Our national assessment framework must reflect who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation. It must honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, support Māori success as Māori, and enable all learners (across all identities and aspirations) to access meaningful futures. It should cultivate not only academic excellence, but also the innovative, adaptable, and diverse talent that will help New Zealand thrive socially and economically in a rapidly changing world.

It can be tempting to look to models of the past, qualifications that are familiar to us can give a false sense of security. It can also be tempting to adopt, often wholesale, an assessment approach that works in another jurisdiction for another country, community or cohort. Frankly, we deserve better than that. We can learn from the past, we can be informed by global examples, but we also need to have the courage to create a system that reflects who we are - a bicultural island nation that punches above its weight when it comes to innovation. NCEA can be world-leading but only if we commit to an assessment system that is inclusive, future-focused, and built on trust, integrity, and aspiration for all.