Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

A top Auckland private school has so little confidence in the new NCEA Level 1 curriculum it is ditching the qualification in favour of its own Year 11 diploma next year. St Cuthbert’s College informed parents Wednesday next year’s Year 11 students would not take part in NCEA Level 1 but rather work towards the school’s own bespoke Year 11 Diploma. Principal Justine Mahon said several of the school’s senior academic staff had been on Government advisory panels for NZQA’s proposed changes to NCEA and had become increasingly concerned by what would be taught in 2024. “We don’t think it provides sufficient, in-depth learning for our students,” she told the Herald. “I’m also concerned about educational standards in New Zealand. Some subjects have been merged so that means that potentially, hundreds of students throughout the country will have a less rigorous conceptual framework.” Chemistry and biology had been merged into one subject as had accounting, business and economics. Several subjects, mostly in the arts