One is aimed at the New Zealand student, while the other was developed on the other side of the world.
NCEA and Cambridge Certificate are two unique systems in their own right, but which one will suit your child's unique learning style?
Since the beginning of NCEA there has been a lot of discussion about its pitfalls. However, there are just as many critics as there are supporters. Our very own elocal Gossip Girl and 2011 cover girl, Anna Campbell, is in her 12th year under the NCEA system and is currently in the middle of studying for exams. Although she doesn't know much about Cambridge, she wonders if it might have suited her better. “I am quite a focused student and I think it is easy to coast along in NCEA without trying. I would have liked more of a challenge.”
“The teachers basically make sure you pass no matter what. They circle everything you get wrong and usually let students re-sit until they pass. In the real world we aren’t going to have teachers to hold our hands. It doesn’t prepare us for life outside school.”
Anna says that you can apply to get into university a year earlier with NCEA but she doesn't believe NCEA students are prepared for university study. “I hear that year thirteen is a lot more self-driven, and I believe it will give me a lot more experience to cope with university.”
She has seen a few of her older classmates go on to university and give up within the first year. “They just aren’t prepared for university study like they may have been under Cambridge.”
On the flip-side, Anna is taking all the opportunities she can get from NCEA and she likes the fact that hard working students are given incentives. This year is the first time NCEA has allowed students to get endorsed in separate subjects. “Prior to 2011 we could only get endorsed from our course work as a whole; now we get recognition for our favourite subjects. I think that is a positive step.”
Parenting
Anna believes the key to achieving is not necessarily the schooling system a student chooses, but the support they get from their family. “I know a lot of girls struggle because their parents either put too much pressure on them or don't care at all about their studies. If you are getting encouraged in a positive way, it makes it a lot easier.”
Andrew Fowler is a father of two children who attend Strathallan College. Andrew agrees it is important to show an interest in what your children are doing. “You need to prepare your children for every step in their lives.”
His children currently attend the private school because of its good reputation and the fact that it offers Cambridge Certificate. Cambridge is an internationally recognised schooling system that is highly thought of, thanks to the simple marking system (where students are given percentage marks and ranked from A – E). Andrew speaks highly of Cambridge; however he admits that the schooling system is very old-fashioned, only offering the main subjects such as history, English, maths and geography. “My children are sports mad and unfortunately they weren't getting as much exposure to sport as they would have liked.” The family decided to send their children to Saint Kentigern's, a school which offers NCEA, because they felt it would be more suitable.
Angela Wheeler has three children at Strathallan College: Helaina (12), Kent (14) and Kristen (16).
Her fourth child, Alisha, has completed her schooling and plans to move to Milan to study at fashion school.
Angela believes the system has done wonders for her children. However, she warns that it is not for everyone. “As a parent, you need to look at where your children's skills lie. If they want to be in agriculture, or engineering for example, they would be much better off in NCEA because there are more programmes available.”
Angela likes the fact that Cambridge is an internationally recognised qualification. “When my oldest daughter Alisha was looking at universities world wide, they were all specifying how many points you needed in Cambridge. If Alisha had studied NCEA it would have been more difficult to prove how she had performed on an international level.”
Alisha has already studied Spanish at high school and looks forward to learning Italian. She also wants to study as a fashion stylist. “The schools are very broad over here. She didn't want to learn how to write advertisements for motorbikes or appliances, she wanted to immerse herself in fashion - and where better to do that than Milan?”
Angela says it is easier for children to study overseas if they have already studied under the Cambridge system. “One of my sons lived in Japan for a year and it was really easy for him to slot straight in to the school, because they also offered Cambridge.”
Because it was originally developed in England, Angela says Cambridge doesn't completely cater for New Zealand culture like NCEA does. “For example, in physical education, the students are expected to do a 40 km tramp in two days. The Hunua Ranges are a lot tougher than a nice English countryside. In situations like this, I think they could be a bit more lenient.”
Teachers
NCEA is offered in every New Zealand public school and some private schools.
Angela says Cambridge teachers often have a lot more experience. “We have a lot of British teachers at Strathallan, which is helpful because they know the Cambridge system inside out.”
Principal of Strathallan College, Robin Kirkham, says his students have thrived under the Cambridge system. Cambridge Examinations send out a report each year with the top percentile of students in the world. According to Robin, last year two students were placed at the top of the world in their chosen subjects and the year before that five or six students came out top. “Cambridge is an internationally recognised qualification and it's nice for parents to know how their children are performing in relation to the rest of the world.” He says that many students have gone on to study in prestigious universities around the world because they have such a recognised qualification.
The Deputy Principal of Pukekohe High School, Sharon Steer, says NCEA helps prepare students for university because it is very similar to a university course. “Their results are made up of final exams as well as course work, which suits all students, whatever their learning style.”
She says students at Pukekohe High School have done exceptionally well in NCEA. “If a student doesn't do well in an exam situation, they can get internal credits. We encourage them and motivate them along the way by explaining how many credits they need to pass and where they stand. This system gives all students a chance to pass if they work hard enough.”
Sharon says NCEA students can use the NZQA website track to track their process individually throughout the whole year and ensure they reach the credits needed to pass. There are also past exams and teaching aids available on the website for students to study at home.
Robin says that although Cambridge is only assessed by examination, the students are given a lot of support and preparation for the exams, and if they don't perform to the standards they had expected, the benefit of a worldwide system like Cambridge is that they can re-sit the exams during the northern hemisphere examinations in June.
Although they teach two separate qualifications, both teachers agree that each qualification suits a certain learning style and it is important that parents are well versed in the qualifications available before they make a decision on where to send their children.
NCEA is a good general qualification which is great for the student who wants a variety of subjects to study and learns best through internal assessments. Cambridge suits those who cope well in examinations and don’t mind studying the core subjects; it is also usually only offered at the private schools. Both qualifications offer scholarships at the end of the year and a high level of support. The general consensus is that a supportive family network, the will to succeed and a good teaching environment will help any student to succeed. Like every student, each qualification is unique; it’s just a matter of fitting the student with the right system. However, NCEA students don't seem to have the dedication that Cambridge students display and no one seems to fail NCEA.
For more information on each qualification, go to www.nzqa.govt.nz and www.acsnz.org.nz.
NCEA Level 1 (Year 11)
Students achieve 80 credits at any level of the NQF. Eight of these should include numeracy and the remainder must include literacy (English or Te Reo Maori).
NCEA Level 2 (Year 12)
60 credits must be at level two or higher and the other twenty can be at any level. In this year, students do not have to study literacy or numeracy.
NCEA Level 3 (Year 13)
60 of the credits must be at level three or higher and the rest can be level two or higher.
A student who has achieved NCEA level one, only needs 60 level two credits to pass NCEA level two. (They just reuse their 20 credits from the year before).
NCEA Standards
1. Achievement standards are assessed against three passing grades – achievement, achievement with merit and achievement with excellence.
2. Unit Standards are simply marked as achieve or not achieved. Unit Standards are only internally assessed, there are no external examinations.
Standards at levels one to three are generally worth between two and six credits each.
Standards pinpoint subjects within a subject. Therefore if a student was particularly good at calculus but not so good at statistics, they might choose to do more calculus standards.
Marking Schedule
Once they have completed the year, each student is given one of three levels.
1. Achievement (A)
The student has just met the criteria.
2. Achievement with Merit (M)
They have a good knowledge.
3. Achievement with Excellence
The top percentile.
Cambridge
University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) provides a similar qualification for schools in over 125 countries around the world. It is an examination board under Cambridge Assessment, which was founded in 1858 as a department of the University of Cambridge.
Students sit the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) in year 11, the AS Level in year 12 and A Level in year 13. There is a choice of 60 different subjects and the system is what you would expect of a British schooling system.
Students received A* to E for A Levels and A to E for AS Levels and unlike NCEA, students are graded by the exams only.
Cambridge International AS and A Level examination sessions occur twice a year to allow for both southern hemisphere and northern hemisphere schooling years. Most examinations take place in June and November.