Mike's Minute: We are moving forward into real-world education

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The Mike Hosking Breakfast 3 min 1 speaker 5 chapters transcribed 4 hours ago

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What research shows about students struggling under the new NCEA system?

Unknown 0:00

The Mike Hosking Breakfast, six to nine weekdays on Newstalk ZB.

Mike Hosking 0:05

G'day there, I read nearly a third of students who would have passed NCEA Level 2 under the current system will struggle under the new one. Burrell have done this research that suggests 15,000 students have followed pathways that may be harder to replicate. Now I'm not sure What the point of this research is, they also claim the chances or the costs come in at $50 million, most of which goes into relief teachers to cover staff working on these aforementioned changes. Now, the narrative is sort of presented as one of these potential trouble or a bleak future for the kids that simply won't cope. So here's what I know as a parent of five who all dealt with NCEA at various levels. It's a joke.

How does the $50 million cost for relief teachers impact the education reform?

Mike Hosking 0:43

Not all of it, but a lot of it. And the sad truth is that if 15,000 are not going to be able to carry on the way they were under this new system, I say not a moment too soon. NCEA was, without putting too fine a point on it, a piss take. On paper, the idea you could pick from a myriad of nice-to-haves, anything you want. Didn't need to be relevant to the real world or your chances at a job. It was fun. You could piece together your eclectic selection of hobby topics and before you knew it, you had your credits. This was a farce.

Why does the host describe NCEA as a ‘piss‑take’ and a farce?

Mike Hosking 1:17

I saw it. In theory, fantastic. In reality, a rort to game the system. When Bill say replicate the old system, this is what they mean. Subjects that no one cares about or getting any work in. Subjects you may be interested in as a night class at Polytech. None of it was designed to set you up for life. It was designed to produce a factory of success stories so schools could say, oh, look at our pass rate.

What are the real‑world consequences when students face un‑relevant subjects?

Mike Hosking 1:42

you weren't passing anything of note. So the next problem is when students do turn up to real subjects with real expectations and they struggle, that will show up eventually, sadly, in the figures. It will show up in fails. Oh, I use that word that you can't use in modern education. Fail, did not achieve, not passed. But that is how countries who succeed actually do it. They educate their kids in real world subjects at real world rates because guess what? They're going into

How do successful countries teach real‑world subjects to avoid student failure?

Mike Hosking 2:12

Hey. Hey. Me haluttais tehdä varaus pitkän kaavan mukaan. Eli laitetaan heti 12 kuukautta? Laitetaan. Ja tähän kuuluu sitten kaikki. Totta kai. Kaikki herkut metrosta ratikkaan. Hyppää yli 5000 edelläkävijän joukkoon ja budjetoi yrityksellenne työmatkaetu. hsl.fi kautta työmatkaetu.

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Chapters

5 chapters

1 What research shows about students struggling under the new NCEA system? 0:00–0:43 2 How does the $50 million cost for relief teachers impact the education reform? 0:43–1:17 3 Why does the host describe NCEA as a ‘piss‑take’ and a farce? 1:17–1:42 4 What are the real‑world consequences when students face un‑relevant subjects? 1:42–2:12 5 How do successful countries teach real‑world subjects to avoid student failure? 2:12–3:01

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Mike Hosking 3 min

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Mike Hosking 1 Bill 1 The Mike Hosking Breakfast 1 Metro 1 Newstalk ZB 1 NCEA 2 Polytech 1 ratikka 1 hsl.fi 1 Burrell 1

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Recorded14 Sep 2026

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Show notes

I read that nearly a third of students who would have passed NCEA Level 2 under the current system will struggle under the new one. BERL have done research that suggests 15,000 students have followed pathways that may be harder to replicate. I'm not sure what the point of this research is. They also claim the changes come at a cost of $50 million, most of which goes into relief teachers to cover staff working on changes. The narrative is sort of presented as one of potential trouble, or a bleak future for kids that won't cope. Here is what I know as a parent of five, who all dealt with NCEA at various levels – it’s a joke. Not all of it, but a lot of it. The sad truth is that if 15,000 are not going to be able to carry on the way they were under this new system, I say not a moment too soon. NCEA was, without putting too fine a point on it, a piss-take. On paper the idea you could pick from a myriad of nice-to-haves, anything you want that didn’t need to be relevant to the real world or your chances at a job, was fun. You could piece together your eclectic selection of hobby topics and before you knew it, you had your credits. This was a farce. In theory it's fantastic. In reality it was a rort to game the system. When BERL say replicate the old system, this is what they mean; subjects no one cares about, or is getting work in, or subjects you may be interested in as a night class at polytech. None of it was designed to set you up for life. It was designed to produce a factory of success stories so schools could say look at our pass rate. You weren't passing anything of note. So the next problem is when students turn up to real subjects, with real expectations, and they struggle. That will show up in figures. It will show up in fails. Oh, I used that word that can't be used in education – "fail", "did not achieve", "not passed". But that is how countries who succeed do it. They educate their kids in real-world subjects at real-world rates because, guess what, they are going out into the real world. Our foray into educational fantasy was always going to end in tears. Between Covid and 25 years of NCEA we have sold a generation of kids short, if not down the river. Sure, lots did fine. But that’s always the way. Good kids never fail. It's the rest who didn’t know better, or who took the mickey, that will, and are, paying the price. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Transcript

What research shows about students struggling under the new NCEA system?

How does the $50 million cost for relief teachers impact the education reform?

Why does the host describe NCEA as a ‘piss‑take’ and a farce?

What are the real‑world consequences when students face un‑relevant subjects?

How do successful countries teach real‑world subjects to avoid student failure?

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How does the $50 million cost for relief teachers impact the education reform?