The NCEA qualification lacks the rigour needed to prepare New Zealand students for competitive universities and workplaces, the chief executive of Crimson Education says.
It comes as an announcement from the Government and Education Minister Erica Stanford is expected imminently on the future of the NCEA system.
Speaking to Q+A, Crimson Education co-founder Jamie Beaton said NCEA wasn’t setting students up well for future success, and lacks international recognition.
“To be honest, it’s rough. NCEA is basically not a rigorous curriculum at all, and students graduating with it are often two years behind in core subjects like maths, science as well,” said Beaton.
Crimson Education’s core business is helping high school students get into universities both in New Zealand and around the world.
Fees for the consulting service can range into the thousands. Crimson itself has previously been valued in the hundreds of millions by investors.
From his perspective, Beaton said students who go through NCEA are disadvantaged compared to their peers who go through Cambridge International A Levels, or the International Baccalaureate systems.
“For a student of mine trying to get into medical school at the University of Auckland, if they’ve gone through the A-Level pathway or IB, they’ve already learned a lot of that first year course-work in biology and chemistry.
“The same NCEA student has to learn that almost from scratch.”
He also criticised what he described as a “movement against testing and standards” in New Zealand, which puts this country behind countries like South Korea and Singapore.
“The system structure should have a requirement to get your homework done, prepare for exams. It teaches you discipline and rigour,” said Beaton, who argued the experience of taking school “really seriously” helped immensely when it came to managing the pressure of his later entrepreneurial career.
“If you have an education system that’s super chill and relaxed, you create these adults that can’t actually function in the workplace, and the economy is competitive, that’s the reality.”
A holder of numerous degrees, Beaton says he still feels pressure when sitting exams, and that is a good thing for students to experience.
“I’ve probably sat at this point more than 300 exams across all these random programmes. I still – my heart races. I had one at Cornell a couple of weeks ago in New York, my heart was racing all day before my econometrics exam,” he said.
“Young people today talking about test anxiety like it’s like this terrible thing – the real world is kind of stressful and you want to have a bit of exposure when you’re younger so you can handle that.”
Crimson Education was founded in 2013, with Beaton meeting his fellow teenage co-founders at Model United Nations conferences.
The company’s advisors include former PM Sir John Key, former leader of the opposition David Cunliffe, and former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
Crimson Education’s history has not been without controversy, including several lawsuits.
The company has also faced criticism of being a vehicle for entrenching inequality, by offering services that allow fee-paying families to enhance their children’s access to top universities, and the connections that come with studying among the elite.
Beaton rejected that suggestion, saying his company operates a “need-based model, so if you can’t afford our fees you can qualify for a full scholarship, or partial scholarship, to cover this.”
For the full interview, watch the video above
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air