Some teachers refused to help when the government asked them just days before Christmas to write guidelines for teaching new NCEA standards.
They weren't swayed by the offer of $5000 to complete the work by late January and Education Ministry staff had to do nearly half of it themselves.
In the end some of it wasn't up to scratch - a third were sent back for revision.
RNZ education correspondent John Gerritsen spoke to Corin Dann.
