However, the results came as no surprise to one Dunedin principal, who says pupils no longer live and die on exam results.
Statistics from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority showed Otago NCEA level 1 results had dropped by 1% last year to a 10-year low to 77.30% and level 2 results had dropped by 2.7% to 81%.
Level 3 results had also dropped by 1% to 75%.
Southland had experienced a 7% drop to 70% for pupils passing NCEA level 1 and level 2 pass rates had dropped by 1% to 78%.
The level 3 pass rate, although not the worst in 10 years, had dropped by 4% from 2022 to 66%.
St Hilda’s Collegiate principal Jackie Barron said the dips in achievement could partly be attributed to pupils questioning the relevance of NCEA in a post-Covid world.
"Post-Covid it has been harder to engage pupils."
She said the 1%-3% drops in achievement were a "blip" and should not be focused on.
Ms Barron said pupils were more strategic and pragmatic about what they focus on.
Interests other than NCEA included sports, leadership, social activism and the arts for pupils.
She said pupils were looking for different opportunities to have broader learning.
However, Ms Barron said appropriate staffing was an issue.
Schools were finding it increasingly difficult to be fully-staffed and subject-specific teachers were hard to come by, she said.
Low attendance rates were also a contributing factor to the lower pass rates.
Ms Barron said there were also range of societal issues that schools could not address.
"We need to look at causes for lower attainment rather than symptoms."
Southland Secondary Schools’ Association chairman Pete Wilkinson told the Otago Daily Times, as reported by the NZQA, national and regional NCEA achievement rates had been in decline the past three years.
Individual school results might or might not reflect this trend, Mr Wilkinson said.
He was looking forward to specifics from Education Minister Erica Stanford about the government’s education priorities.
Ms Barron welcomed the announcement from the government this week it was spending $67 million on "structured literacy", which systematically taught the structure of language.
It directly addressed phonological skills, decoding and spelling which supported reading and writing.
She said anything that was going to benefit literacy and numeracy earlier on would see benefits at the back end.
Otago Primary Principals’ Association chairwoman and Maori Hill School principal Verity Harlick said structured literacy was presently used by many schools and was one approach of many to support pupils’ learning.
- additional reporting Stephen Hepburn
