Private schools and girls top NCEA exam pass list

Private schools claimed the highest percentage of NCEA exam passes last year, and girls are still doing better than boys, according to recent media reports.

The NZ Herald has reported that private schools claimed the highest percentage of NCEA exam passes in National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) last year.

The Dominion Post has reported that girls continue to outperform boys at secondary school, according to new NCEA figures.

Girls were more likely to get NCEA qualifications than boys, with only 59 percent of boys passing level one, compared with 68 percent of girls.

The gap was even wider when comparing level three results (47 percent for boys and 62 percent for girls).

Pupils at single-sex schools also appeared more likely to gain qualifications than those at co-educational schools, with nearly 85 percent of girls at single-sex schools gaining level two NCEA last year, compared with 67 percent at co-educational schools. All-boy schools also performed better, the figures showed.

In other news, a prominent South Island teacher says NCEA results do not accurately reflect male achievement at secondary school.

Reported in the Southland Times, Southland Boys’ High School rector Ian Baldwin said the vast differences in male and female learning meant girls were more suited to NCEA assessment, but boys were getting a lot more out of school than results suggested.

Despite that, Mr Baldwin said the gender gap was still a disappointment and more debate was needed to address the problem, the newspaper reported.

Some of the problem stemmed from the ‘staunch Kiwi male’ stereotype with many boys being encouraged to watch rugby rather than read a book at home.

The NCEA system was heading in the right direction by offering ‘merit’ and ‘excellence’ passes, which gave boys something to strive for, he said.

Resources

The New Zealand Herald article is at this web page.

The Dominion Post article is at this web page.

The Southland Times article is at this web page.