Secondary focus updates
These articles are published in the New Zealand Education Gazette. Each link will take you through to the story on the Education Gazette website.
Upgraded NCEA on TKI (published 7/05/12)
The changeover to the upgraded NCEA pages on the TKI site took place on 20 April, 2012.The pages have the same ‘look and feel’ as other resource pages for senior secondary. The ‘landing page’ – opens with two options: resources for aligned standards, and resources for non-aligned standards.
New look NCEA pages on Te Kete Ipurangi (published 23/04/12)
The NCEA pages on the TKI website are being upgraded to a new format.TKI has been migrating to a more modern platform over the past few years, and now it is time for the NCEA pages to make the change too. The changeover will take place early in Term Two, 2012.
Supporting secondary student achievement (published 2/04/12)
Professional Learning and Development (PLD) support for secondary student achievement this year will be in the form of networks of face-to-face and online clusters, workshops, online support, facilitated meetings, and for selected schools, in-depth PLD.
Online resources for senior secondary (published 19/03/12)
The Ministry of Education TKI website is a treasure trove of information and resources for secondary teachers seeking guidance about The New Zealand Curriculum, NCEA and the changes for their particular subjects.
New versions of draft Level 3 standards on website (published 5/03/12)
The Level 3 standards are being revised in the light of responses to consultation in August and September last year, and as a result of feedback received from the development of draft assessment resources for these standards.
Senior secondary PLD (published 20/2/12)
The Ministry of Education will be providing support for The New Zealand Curriculum and NCEA achievement standards through two major providers this year.
One-stop secondary portal (published 7/2/12)
The Ministry of Education TKI website is a treasure trove of information and resources for secondary teachers seeking guidance about The New Zealand Curriculum, NCEA and the changes for their particular subjects.
Inspiring middle leaders (published 5/12/11)
The secondary middle leaders site has been revamped to make it easier to find and use information. The site has a range of information, tools and resources to support secondary middle leaders.
A storybook approach to lifting maths achievement (published 21/11/11)
Henderson High’s Debbie O’Dell has raised the achievement of her year 11 alternative maths class by “wrapping maths in a story”. The head of mathematics and statistics started the year teaching the statistics strand. “But instead of using the textbook, I put the data in a context that meant something to the students. For example, we compared our class with other classes, comparing heights, weights, who was better at maths. We looked at a lot of different data.”
The group assessment option (published 7/11/11)
Have you considered using group assessment? NZCE national coordinator for science, Graeme Tinkler, says group assessment, supported by national assessment moderators this year, is an interesting addition to the assessment toolbox.
Gaining numeracy standards (published 25/10/11)
From 2012, students will have two options to gain level 1 numeracy. They can either gain a total of 10 credits from the new numeracy unit standards or 10 (or more) credits from the realigned achievement standards.
Technology workshops (published 3/10/11)
Incorporating assessment standards within technology programmes and ensuring they align with technology in The New Zealand Curriculum has been a major focus of this year’s technology workshops, says NCEA national coordinator for technology, Cliff Harwood.
Common ground for health, PE and home economics (published 19/9/11)
Teachers of health, physical education and home economics have met the challenge of writing a learning guide that moulds these subjects into one coherent learning area.
Literacy in science and science literacy (published 5/9/11)
Strategies to enhance the literacy skills of science students have been an important focus of the term 2 professional development workshops for science teachers. NCEA national coordinator for science, Graeme Tinkler, says science advisers used some important literacy strategy “do’s and don’t’s” in their workshops, provided by national secondary literacy coordinator Aaron Wilson.
Maths and stats workshops (published 22/8/11)
The series of workshops on the curriculum and NCEA assessment standards will continue for mathematics and statistics teachers this term. The professional development workshops are provided by subject advisers, supported by NCEA national coordinators for mathematics and statistics.
Collegial support for media studies (published 8/8/11)
Media studies is a discipline where there is often just one teacher of the subject in a school. To ensure the necessary collegial support, teachers are turning to the media studies online community.
English online (published 25/7/11)
Teachers of secondary English have a ready source of professional support in the form of English Online. English Online community facilitator Mike Fowler said the resource was as an increasingly important part of secondary English teachers’ professional networks.
Level 2 standards for programme planning (published 4/7/11)
Level 2 draft standards and draft assessment activities are now available for teachers to use in planning their year 12 programmes for next year.
Supporting effective literacy practice (published 20/6/11)
Literacy learning does not end with primary school – as students move on through secondary school, the texts they read and write become more complex, abstract and specialised.
Arts PD now available online (published 7/6/11)
The arts education portal Arts Online is a vibrant place for teachers to share ideas, request help and resources and establish professional relationships.
Cluster PD in level 1 technology (published 23/5/11)
Cliff Harwood, as national NCEA coordinator for technology, has attended a number of recent technology curriculum leader professional development workshops conducted by School Support Services technology advisers around the country. Cliff says he is impressed with the professionalism and commitment teachers have demonstrated at these workshops.
Level 1 science workshops (published (9/5/11)
The appointment of Graeme Tinkler as the national NCEA coordinator for science has enabled the regional science advisers to collaborate on the design of a series of workshops throughout the country.
Cluster PD in level 1 maths and stats (published 26/4/11)
Schools and teachers in Auckland and Northland have been getting together in departments and local clusters to work with the realigned NCEA Level 1 standards in mathematics and statistics.
Guides for Pasifika languages are being developed (published 11/4/11)
Currently in New Zealand, Gagana Sāmoa, Lea Faka Tonga, Vagahau Niue, Cook Islands Māori and Gagana Tokelau are being offered at 35 secondary schools, making up a total of 47 Pasifika language courses. The majority of the courses are available up to NCEA Level 3.
Introducing: Cliff Harwood, national NCEA technology coordinator (published 28/3/11)
Cliff Harwood is the national NCEA coordinator appointed by the Ministry of Education to support professional development in technology this year. Cliff is in his fifth year as the national technology professional development manager, a contracted position for the Ministry that sees him working with advisers and pre-service lecturers of technology.
Introducing: Graeme Tinkler, national NCEA science coordinator (published 14/3/11)
Graeme Tinkler, national NCEA science coordinator, is an experienced science teacher currently on secondment from Cashmere High School in Christchurch, where he teaches science and chemistry. In recent years, he has been the national moderator and a senior subject advisor for chemistry, and he has also worked on secondment as a science advisor.
‘One-stop’ secondary portal online now (published 28/2/11)
The internet is a treasure trove of information, guidance and resources for teachers to help them understand the implications of The New Zealand Curriculum changes for their particular subjects.
Updated assessment resources available (published 14/2/11)
All the newly aligned Level 1 Achievement Standards are now registered on NZQA’s Directory of Assessment Standards and are able to be used by schools.
Hands-on symposium a winner (published 6/12/10)
The 2010 Digital Technologies Symposium has been a fantastic success! Participants gathered at the Holiday Inn in Auckland for three days of inspiring and informative workshops, keynotes, panel discussions and networking.
New mathematics and statistics resources available online (published 22/11/10)
New guidance resources for senior secondary mathematics and statistics are now available as part of the mathematics and statistics teaching and learning guide.
NCEA assessment resources and exemplars (published 8/11/10)
Draft Level 1 assessment resources are now going through the NZQA quality assurance processes (QAAM), and exemplars are being prepared for publication in December 2010.
The exemplars will help teachers develop an understanding of what would be required to achieve the standard in an assessment task.
Progress on standards alignment (published 25/10/10)
The alignment of standards to The New Zealand Curriculum and the development of assessment resources is an iterative process.
The Level 1 standards are available in final draft form. They may still be amended for clarification purposes before registration on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework in December 2010. As these standards will not be registered until the end of 2010, they must not be used for student assessment in 2010.
Mathematics and statistics guide now online (published 11/10/10)
A teaching and learning guide for mathematics and statistics is now available online at the Senior Secondary New Zealand Curriculum Guides website.
The guide supports the changes introduced by The New Zealand Curriculum to the way mathematics and statistics are taught and how potential learning is packaged as achievement objectives.
Resources for literacy and numeracy (published 20/9/10)
Resources are now available on the NZQA website to support the new Level 1 literacy and numeracy unit standards. These unit standards are one way for students to meet the Level 1 NCEA literacy and numeracy requirements that will be in place from 2011 onwards.
Consultation on standards (published 6/9/10)
The draft Level 2 achievement standards are now written and ready for consultation.
The consultation is being carried out for the Ministry of Education by Research New Zealand. It covers draft Level 2 achievement standards for each subject and the conditions of assessment for internally assessed standards.
Published on: 28 Jul 2011