New Zealand’s Qualifications Authority has announced that artificial intelligence will start helping to mark Year 10 writing tests this May.
The decision was shared during a meeting with the Education and Workforce Select Committee on Wednesday. Officials said the change would speed up marking and help students get their results faster.
Grant Klinkum, NZQA’s chief executive, explained that a recent trial using AI to mark tests from 36,000 students showed an 80 percent agreement rate—similar to human markers. In the new system, AI will do the first round of marking, but human markers will double-check many tests, especially those close to passing or failing, to make sure results are fair.
Klinkum also pointed out that most NCEA credits last year came from internal assessments which are assignments done during the year, rather than final exams. He warned that AI could make it easier for students to cheat on internal assessments, raising questions about whether more final exams should be used in the future.
Even though AI has challenges, Klinkum said it also offers big opportunities for improving education.
The human review of AI-marked tests will be important to make sure no student is treated unfairly. If a human marker disagrees with the AI’s decision, the human’s opinion will be final.
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