The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the recently introduced national qualification for New Zealand senior secondary school students. Based on a mix of internal and external assessment against achievement standards, it represents a marked change from the previous norm-reference based qualifications. Introduced in 2002, commencing with Level 1, NCEA involved a considerable paradigm shift in assessment practice for teachers. This paper focuses on teachers' perceptions regarding the process of implementing the Level 1 geography NCEA achievement standards. It highlights the initial challenges faced, factors considered to assist and hinder the implementation change process and the lessons learnt.

The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC), Realigned Geography Achievement Standards and Social Science Teaching and Learning Guidelines-Geography combined are playing a key role in transforming senior school geography into a subject suited for 21st century learners. While they provide geography teachers with the permissiveness to plan coherent school-based geography programmes that are relevant and responsive to students' needs, the implementation process can prove challenging. Adjusting to the increased trust and responsibility assigned to teachers, as they undertake the role of curriculum makers, is a key focus of this paper.

No abstract

The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), introduced early this decade, is the national qualification for New Zealand senior secondary school students. Commencing with Level 1 in 2002, the implementation of NCEA represented a marked change from previous norm‐referenced‐based qualifications and required a considerable paradigm shift in teacher assessment practice. During the transition period, learner needs often took second place to assessment in geography classrooms. This paper identifies the practices that Year 11 geography teachers used post NCEA implementation to manage assessment practice more effectively and to address the perceived over‐emphasis on assessment.

No abstract