secondary principals association

After-effects of Covid-19 pandemic school decisions are being blamed for dropping NCEA results.  

Provisional results indicate pass rates dropped for a third consecutive year. 

Almost 50,000 students had accessed their results by late yesterday evening. 

Secondary Principals' Association President Vaughan Couillault told Tim Dower that it's not entirely unexpected given the gaps in knowledge teachers have uncovered since Covid. 

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Concerns are being raised about the price of school uniforms, with some parents saying they go without food so they can afford them.  

Secondary school uniforms can cost hundreds of dollars.  

Secondary Principals' Council chair Kate Gainsford told Tim Dower that as the cost of producing a uniform rises, this will likely become more of an issue.  

She says while the fact they're used every day can make it financially better, there's the up-front cost, particularly if there's multiple children. 

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St Cuthbert’s College is ditching Level 1 NCEA next year, finding the proposed changes to the curriculum concerning.

President of the Secondary Principals Association Vaughan Couillault disagrees with criticisms that the new curriculum will leave children unprepared.

He says that the point was to lower the stakes of Level 1, and align it more with the amount of work needed in Levels 2 and 3.

Couillault says that the base curriculum being changed does not stop schools from teaching other content, and the removal of standards actually gives more space for that kind of learning to be done.

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Are children acquiring the practical skills they need to navigate “adult life”?

On top of a traditional education, should schools be teaching children how to do things like open bank accounts, taxes, or the basics of our political system?

Secondary Principals Association President Vaughan Couillault says that while they aren’t packaged as a “life skills course”, these skills are covered in subjects such as social studies, maths, and technologies.

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