Education Minister Erica Stanford is defending the six-week consultation period for plans to scrap the country’s main secondary school qualification after Labour raised concerns the changes were being rushed through for “political expediency.”

The decades-old NCEA scheme will be abolished completely and replaced with two new qualifications at Year 12 and 13. Consultation on the changes is open for six weeks until September.

Labour says it has fielded concerns from worried teachers and parents about how “hasty” the changes were being made and the “short window” for consultation.

Speaking at the site of her old high school, Stanford said six weeks was a reasonable amount of time.

“We’ve still got a three year rollout to go and I’ve got half of people saying why can’t you do this more quickly, why don’t you just roll it out next year and I’ve got half of people saying it’s not long enough.”

Stanford was asked by media about the consultation period for kura kaupapa. She said she had been rebuilding the relationship between kura and the Government, and kura would have a separate consultation from mainstream schools.

“We always deal with kura in a very different and separate way because of the different relationship we have with them.

“They will not go through the normal process of consultation, I will meet with them directly. My officials will meet with them directly and we will talk about their aspirations for these kids in a different way.

“We have a special relationship because of the Treaty and we have a separate consultation process that we will run just with them.”

Yesterday, the Government announced the decades-old NCEA scheme would be abolished completely and replaced with two new qualifications at Year 12 and 13.

Under the new system, Year 11 students will face what is being called a “Foundational Skills Award” with a focus on literacy and numeracy. English and mathematics will be required subjects for students at this year level.

Year 12 and 13 students will seek to attain the New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE) respectively.

Under the proposal, students currently doing NCEA continue. Students who are Year 8 today will be the first affected by the changes, which begin in 2028.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford announcing the scrapping of NCEA. Photo / Michael Craig 

Students would do a mix of internal and external exams that add up to a mark out of 100, replacing the current achieved, merit and excellence rankings. That figure aligns to a letter grade such as A, B or C.

For example, a student who received 85/100 in English would get an A while 50/100 in history would get them a C.

Opposing political parties have been critical, saying the Government is rushing through the radical changes.

Labour’s education spokeswoman, Willow-Jean Prime, said “rushing changes through now for political expediency isn’t the answer”.

She said schools and parents told her they were concerned about “how hasty” the proposed changes were.

“Previous rushed overhauls have led to students being the guinea pigs for failed change – like national standards – so we must get this right.

“Already I’m hearing from schools and parents worried about what this all means for their students and how hasty these proposed changes are.”

Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime has concerns about the Government's proposal. Photo / Mike Scott 

The Green Party’s education spokesman, Lawrence Xu-Nan, said NCEA was not perfect but it recognised learning took place in different ways.

“Today’s announcement is another classic case of the Government favouring one-size-fits-all approaches. Our education system is too important to be reduced to a single, rigid framework that will leave many behind.

“We haven’t seen any clear case for the scrapping of NCEA - the Government has not made it. We remain entirely unconvinced this is what our school system needs. In fact, it risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.