New Zealand students have the highest rates of anxiety around exams of any country in the OECD, it's been claimed. Should the NCEA be changed?

If New Zealand has fallen out of love with the NCEA, student stress could be a factor.

Charlotte Weston always wanted to go to university but everything changed at high school.

"High school was really, really hard for me, and I don't look back on it fondly at all."

She felt forced to fit into an ill-fitting mould. She struggled to concentrate. Then New Zealand's national qualification was given a dramatic shake-up.

READ MORE:

* Auckland school goes its own way following proposal to overhaul NCEA

* A complete overhaul of NCEA level one has been recommended to Government

* Palmerston North Boys' High School students may not get NCEA level 1 in 2019

"My year was the guinea pig year for the NCEA [National Certificate of Educational Achievement]. There was so much focus on ticking all these boxes that quite a few people got left behind, or had a lot of anxiety ... I think there was a lot of emphasis on meeting these particular curriculum and not so much on learning."

CAMERON BURNELL/STUFF Charlotte Weston was part of the "guinea pig" year for NCEA at a time when her ADHD was undiagnosed.

Introduced between 2002 and 2004, NCEA combines internal assessments and exams. Its promise is to test skills using credits, and provide students with more opportunities to study their preferred subjects than the old model, the school certificate.

Today, in some communities, the qualification is argued to help students prepare for their future - adults without a level 2 equivalent qualification had a 45 per cent higher unemployment rate than those with one, Statistics New Zealand found in 2014.

But Weston remembers the new system adding pressure to an already "awful" experience of being a teenager navigating school with undiagnosed ADHD. She shut down. "I do remember a lot of my friends being really anxious about it. I don't think it mobilised me."

TEETHING PROBLEMS?

In December 2002, a survey of 16 Auckland schools showed overall support for the new system. In 2009, an Education and Science Select Committee inquiry acknowledged the "upheaval caused by the shift to the NCEA level 1" - but still said the system provided a flexible structure designed to adapt to a changing workforce.

Elsewhere, however, concerns are still being raised, more than a decade after the "teething problem" years. In May this year, the Post-Primary Teachers' Association said the NCEA was too focused on passing exams, instead of workload and career paths. President Jack Boyle said New Zealand students had the highest rates of anxiety and stress around assessment of any country in the OECD.

WARWICK SMITH/STUFF David Bovey of Palmerston North Boys High School wants less emphasis put on NCEA level one.

In April, rector David Bovey said Palmerston North Boys' High School proposed not to offer enough credits for students to get NCEA level 1 from 2019, given that level 2 was realistically the minimum qualification for school leavers.

Bovey was far from the first school leader to propose a shake-up, but he directly pointed to the "continuous grind" of assessments and a decline in in the mental health of students over the last decade. "While not all of the blame can be laid at the feet of NCEA – this time period also marks the advent of the smartphone and social media – there is little doubt that it is a noteworthy contributing factor and one of the reasons for the national NCEA review," he said at the time.

'WE'RE JUST TEENAGERS'

Head prefect at Palmerston North Boys' High School Digby Werthmuller says he and some of his classmates felt "worn out" before they even reached level 2; now he's had to "scrounge for the motivation" to complete his final year.

On a good week, the Year 13 student spends at least an hour each night working, but last week three upcoming internal assessments swallowed three hours each night. With extra curricular activities, prefect duties, chores, dinner and sleep, there's not a lot of time left for anything else, he says. "I was flat out trying to get them finished. It all adds up. You have to remember, we're just teenagers."

Werthmuller knows of students forced to give up interests like music and sport for schoolwork, even though some is only worth a few credits.

MURRAY WILSON/STUFF Palmerston North Boys' High School head prefect Digby Werthmuller says NCEA schoolwork can take up a lot of time.

Scrapping NCEA altogether would be a "risky move", he says. "I don't think there's a need to cut all of NCEA. I think it's a good programme ... but it does have its flaws."

Level 1 is outdated, and less pressure early on would give students the motivation to push harder in the years that really count, he says. "My recommendation would be not to put so much emphasis on level 1. Focus on levels 2 and 3."

In recent months, an overhaul of NCEA level 1 has been recommended to Government. Under the proposal, the number of credits at level 1 would be halved, and external exams scrapped. Instead students would pick a project for the year and concentrate on improving literacy and numeracy.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said stress was one of the reasons behind the controversial review, though he emphasised it will also look to remove "credit-farming" and create better vocational pathways.

“I have heard many stories of rising stress levels both by students and principals. Over assessment and the impact on students’ and teachers’ wellbeing is one of the major concerns raised by my youth advisory group," he said. "Unnecessary overassessment at NCEA level 1 and the downside that creates both in added stress for students and extra workload for teachers is one of several aspects the review will consider."

TOO MUCH STRESS?

The extent of young people's mental health is largely unknown because of a lack of specified data, though in 2017 the Ministry of Health recorded 49,109 young people under the age of 19 visiting mental health and addiction services.

One thing we do know is that New Zealand's suicide rate is among the highest in the world - between the ages of 15 and 19, our rate is five times that of the United Kingdom and twice that of the United States.

It's far too simple to lay the blame for this at the door of exams. But Victoria University of Wellington psychology professor Marc Wilson believes there is an increase in the number of teachers, parents, guidance counsellors and principals raising concerns about student stress, and "many of those people identify NCEA as one of the catalysts."

He knows of students who email teachers as late as 2am with questions, while both they and their parents report feeling over-assessed. As students move through years 11,12 and 13, reported stress ramps up. "We also see increasing amounts of anxiety, increasing amounts of depression, an increasing amount of things like perfectionism as well."

Wilson says there is not enough support in schools to cope with young people's mental health needs. Secondary schools are trying to "hold young people steady" until they were serious enough to warrant a referral. "Schools are really feeling the crunch."

Hipkins acknowledges this is an ongoing concern. “During the two education summits we ran in May, wellbeing of students was the number one aspect that attendees wanted to be built into a future school system."

CHRIS SKELTON/STUFF Education Minister Chris Hipkins has been asked to completely overhaul the NCEA, amid concerns for student stress and anxiety levels.

Werthmuller thinks there is enough support in his school for students who needed it - but finding the time to use those resources was another story.

For Weston, it was years after school that she finally got the support she needed. She suffered "a breakdown" while studying anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington, and was finally diagnosed with ADHD in 2017. With proper support and medication, Weston graduated in May, and has decided to return to study architecture.

But her high school wasn't good with "complex people", she says. "I was just told to try harder and fit into this very narrow idea of what a student and a teenager should be."

Her advice to those running the system now? "Just recognising that, although for teenagers there's a lot of hormonal stuff, it's not always that teenagers [are] just being bad or being hormonal or being difficult. Actually there are other things going on."

HOW NCEA CREDITS WORK

Each subject is assessed against a set of standards. Each standard is worth a number of credits, usually between three and six.

Achievement standards are gained through both internal and external assessment. Unit standards can be gained through internal assessment, a tertiary organisation, or a workplace, and usually assess a vocational-based skill.

To pass Level 1, 80 credits are required at any level, including literacy and numeracy.

Level 2 requires 60 credits from level 2 or above, plus 20 credits from any level.

To gain Level 3, a student must pass 60 credits at that level, plus 20 credits from level 2 or above.