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NCEA kickstart project - Breaking down silos

In early 2017, a group of secondary school teachers volunteered to be part of a project at a Grow Waitaha community of practice meeting. The project’s aim was to create Level 1 NCEA assessments using achievement standards from several subject domains to break down siloed subject boundaries.

Teachers from nine different Canterbury schools worked collaboratively to design interdisciplinary assessment tasks for Year 11 students. These tasks were sent to NZQA for feedback and some teachers trialled them with students to get their comments. This story focuses on the teachers’ professional learning throughout this process.

The schools and teachers who began this inquiry were:

  • Avonside Girls’ High School 
  • Burnside High School
  • Lincoln High School 
  • Mairehau High School
  • Oxford Area School
  • Papanui High School 
  • St Andrew’s College
  • St Margaret’s College
  • Te Ao Tawhiti

 

Project aims

Overview of assessments

Successes

Challenges

Advice to others

Conclusion