Subject Endorsement to further motivate top students

Extra recognition for secondary school students who perform exceptionally well in specific subjects will be included in NCEA results from 2011, Education Minister Anne Tolley announced today.

"A Budget allocation of $2.72 million will enable the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to develop subject endorsement, rewarding high achievement in specific subjects," Mrs Tolley said. "It will be available for students with sufficient merit and excellence credits in the National Certificate of Education (NCEA)."

Subject endorsement follows the success of certificate endorsement, introduced in 2007 for students with a high proportion of merit and excellence credits across all subjects.

"Subject endorsement will be introduced progressively from 2011, initially at NCEA Level 1, followed by Level 2 in 2012, and Level 3 in 2013, in alignment with new standards developed through the current Standards Review.

"This is an extra performance incentive that will help motivate students with strengths in particular subjects throughout the school year. Research published today by Victoria University shows widespread support among secondary students for both certificate and subject endorsement," Mrs Tolley said.

"This development means that students who perform well across all subjects will have their overall excellence recognised with an endorsed certificate, as well as having their strength in a particular subject recognised with subject endorsement at merit or excellence. Students who may not be strong across all subjects will have their abilities in particular subjects recognised with subject endorsement."

Subject endorsement is part of a package of measures to further improve NCEA. Those measures include:

* The review of standards to address issues of duplication, credit parity and consistency and fairness (new standards are due for introduction from 2010).

* School Results Summary for school leavers - listing results for all standards attempted during secondary school (introduced for students leaving school in 2008).

* Increased moderation of internal assessment, to 10% of student work.

Work to implement subject endorsement will start next month in consultation with secondary schools and educationalists.