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communicate the government’s expectations around the implementation of the 2005
Scholarship.
8 The NZQA and the Ministry of Education develop a programme to build capability in the
secondary sector to widen the already stretched pool of examiners and markers.
In respect of 1.3:
9 NZQA establishes a small team of National Assessment Facilitators (NAFs) specifically
for the 2005 and 2006 Scholarships, or ensures that NAFs have an explicit component of
their work dedicated to the Scholarships.
10 The Ministry of Education involves NZQA and sector expertise actively in the continued
revision of the Scholarship standards.
11 NZQA, with input from the Ministry of Education, revises the 2005 papers to ensure the
questions can adequately distinguish a range of student performance, and establish
marking schemes that allow transparent differentiation of achievement and transparent
ranking.
12 NZQA, with input from the Ministry of Education, establishes conventions that provide
consistent guidance to marking panels of different subjects on how to award
Scholarships.
13 NZQA ensures the development of multiple exemplar resources for teachers to use in the
2005 school year including some with marked students’ scripts 6 .
14 The Ministry of Education conducts two professional development days in 2005 and two
in 2006, tailored specifically to the needs of Scholarship.
In respect of 1.4:
15 The implications of the boundaries of tolerance set for each subject in the 2005
Scholarship, as agreed by Cabinet following the SRG report 7 should be clearly
communicated to Ministers.
16 NZQA provides urgent advice to the Associate Minister of Education about the potential
for an earlier start to the examinations and a later release of results than occurred for the
2004 Scholarship. Timing and resources should allow for the start and completion of
script marking to reasonably identify issues, and if necessary, for expert advice to be
obtained and consultation with Ministers to occur. A delay should be possible in the
release of results and the return of examination scripts to students until issues are
satisfactorily resolved.
17 A concerted information campaign, as part of the communications strategy, be conducted
in 2005 to set realistic professional and public expectations for the release of results and
to provide reassurance that the issues that emerged in 2004 have been adequately
understood and addressed.
18 NZQA ensures a conservative, risk-averse approach to the 2005 Scholarship, so that
people and systems are prepared for the outcomes and can implement appropriate
management strategies.
6 It may be possible to use the guinea pig scripts that were retained from 2004
7 Cabinet has agreed to a range of 2-3% for each subject, with an annual variation of plus +/- 1%. For small subjects the
variation can extend to +/-1-5 candidates
19