Michael Johnston from the New Zealand Initiative said it is important to certify literacy and numeracy but a big drop in NCEA achievement rates is not desirable. Photo: RNZ / Screenshot
An education researcher says the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) pass rates in the Cook Islands and Niue will "fall through the floor" if literacy and numeracy tests become compulsory in 2026.
"We need to look at an alternative way of approaching this" - Michael Johnston
The New Zealand government is considering extending the 2026 deadline for the tests and allowing students to use other ways of proving they are literate and numerate.
When 242 Cook Island and Niuean students sat the new tests in June, 18 percent passed reading, 45 percent passed writing, and 23 percent passed numeracy.
New Zealand students have struggled with the tests too, with failure rates as high as 44 percent in writing and maths in June.
Michael Papatua, principal of Mangaia School in the Cook Islands southern group, said the results are a clear indication students were not meeting the requirements to engage with NCEA.
"There is a need for us to relook at our literacy and numeracy programme down in primary and up at junior secondary, to ensure that when the students come into NCEA level one, they have acquired basic numeracy and literacy skills," he said.
Education researcher Michael Johnston from think tank, the New Zealand Initiative, said it's important to certify literacy and numeracy but a big drop in NCEA achievement rates is not desirable.
"We need to look at an alternative way of approaching this for both the realm countries and New Zealand," he said.
"What I would advocate would be establishing a standalone certificate of literacy and numeracy and not having it be a co-requisite for NCEA."
Cook Island results improved on when they took them in 2022, which had a 17 percent pass in reading, 16 percent in writing, and 17 per cent in mathematics.
But Johnston said he did not see a reason why there would be much improvement going forward.
"Even though [New Zealand's] results are better than [the realm nations], when kids come to depend on these to get NCEA we're going to have a bit of an issue.
"In the realm countries, it's going to be worse that, the achievement would fall through the floor.
"The reasons for these kinds of problems exist go back to primary school, so I don't expect a big improvement in the next couple of years.
"We need a hard look at how these skills are being taught much earlier."
Johnston said the level of literacy and numeracy being certified is the equivalent of a normal adult and was not too hard.
"New Zealand should be having a serious look at how it teaches literacy and numeracy at primary school level, and how it's taught in the realm countries, and do something about it because we can't go on like this."
Papatua said if the tests do become a co-requisite, he is concerned about teachers' well-being.
"I'm very concerned at the pressure and the stress that teachers will have to go through with these changes."
He said for many Cook Island teachers, English is a second language and he wanted them to have more support.
Johnston said there is a case for New Zealand putting a special effort into getting realm nation teachers better equipped.
"It might be a matter of having a professional development specialist located in the Cook Islands travelling to those remote islands and maybe going fairly extended assignments to help."
Titikaveka College principal Vae Unuka said the poor results can be partially attributed to cultural and language barriers.
He said students had difficulty interpreting the literacy questions.
"We are finding that some of our kids, the question is too hard for them to understand and to really solve it.
"We will be looking at our results and then reviewing it again, finding strategies of how we can tackle that in the future."
Unuka said the literacy tests were done on paper but the numeracy test was a digital assessment. He said this was also a challenge because some of the students were slow at typing.
New Zealand Education Ministry Curriculum Centre general manager Rob Mill said a two-year transitional period in 2024 and 2025 will give schools time to adjust to the new tests.
He said during the transition additional standards will be available in local languages to students living Niue, Tokelau and the Cook Islands.