Despite French teachers complaining about the inaccuracy of an NCEA exam, NZQA chief executive Karen Poutasi says they are standing by it.

Nationwide teachers have claimed the exam contained errors, bizarre references to an elderly woman and Pablo Picasso, and convoluted questions.

Students, who have sat the level 1 French exam, including those in Tauranga, are being reassured by NZQA that there are no performance problems with the exam.

Karen says NZQA is working with independent experts from the teaching sector to identify if there are any issues or errors in this examination.

'At this early stage in marking, NZQA has identified no performance problems with the exam.

'So far, the marking panel leaders believe students are achieving well and within the expected performance for ‘achieved', ‘merit' and ‘excellence' results.”

She says NZQA stands behind this examination as the paper fairly reflects the intent of the New Zealand curriculum.

'Also, one of the purposes of an examination is to enable students to demonstrate their ability against the standard.

'Both candidates and teachers must expect some material to be challenging.

'If there was no such material, the ‘excellence' level candidates would be unable to demonstrate their high level skills.”

Any complaints the NZQA has received about the exam are being handled as per the organisation's complaint process, which is detailed on the NZQA website.

'All concerns have been passed onto the marking panels to ensure they take them into consideration, if required, during the marking process.

'At a later date, the concerns will also be passed onto the examination setting team for them to consider as they review the 2011 paper and develop the paper for 2012.

'This is to ensure any verified issues are not repeated in the following year.”