The Government is proposing to replace the current NCEA with new national qualifications, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford announced this morning.
The pair made the announcement in Auckland this morning, saying the current system “doesn’t always deliver what students and employers need”.
“We want every New Zealander to reach their full potential and contribute to a thriving economy — and that starts with our students,” Luxon said.
“The evidence shows NCEA is not consistent and can be hard to navigate.”
The proposal includes:
- Removing NCEA Level 1, requiring students to take English and Mathematics at Year 11, and sit a foundation award (test) in numeracy and literacy.
- Replacing NCEA Levels 2 and 3 with two new qualifications (The New Zealand Certificate of Education at Year 12 and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education at Year 13).
- Requiring students to take five subjects and pass at least four to attain each certificate.
- Marking clearly out of 100 with grades that make sense to parents like A, B, C, D, E.
- Working with industry to develop better vocational pathways so students are getting the skills relevant to certain career pathways.
The new qualification would be underpinned by a new national curriculum for Years 9-13 that outlines what students need to learn in each subject and when, in a bid to provide more consistency.
“While NCEA was designed to be flexible, for many students that flexibility has encouraged a focus on simply attaining the qualification. This has come at the cost of developing the critical skills and knowledge they need for clear pathways into future study, training or employment,” Stanford said.
“This is about making sure our national qualification opens doors for every young person, whether they’re heading into a trade, university, or straight into work. Parents can be assured their kids will get the best possible opportunity to thrive.”
Luxon said “New Zealand’s future depends on our young people having the skills to succeed in the modern global economy”.
“We’re backing Kiwi kids with a new internationally benchmarked national qualification designed to do exactly that.
Standford said the Government’s major education reforms were already “well underway in primary and intermediate”.
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including toddler found in suitcase on bus, Russian volcano erupts, and Liam Lawson pips former world champion. (Source: 1News)
“Every student is already taught at least an hour a day of reading, writing, and maths, we’ve banned cell phones in classrooms, we’ve introduced a world-leading Maths and English curriculum, mandated structured literacy and maths programmes, equipped teachers and students with high-quality resources, made huge investments into learning support and stopped building open-plan classrooms,” Stanford says.
Consultation on the proposal will be open until September 15, with final decisions to be make before the year’s end.
The proposed changes are to be phased in, with the new national curriculum coming in next year.
The Foundational Skills Award will start in 2028, and the Certificates of Education in 2029 and 2030 for Years 12 and 13.
During the transition period, students will be assessed either through the current NCEA system, or the new one.
‘NCEA is basically not a rigorous curriculum’
With the Government considering the future of NCEA, co-founder of billion-dollar company Crimson Education Jamie Beaton is urging massive changes to NZ’s secondary school qualification. (Source: Q and A)
Yesterday, Crimson Education co-founder Jamie Beaton told Q+A that NCEA wasn’t setting students up well for future success, and lacks international recognition.
“To be honest, it’s rough. NCEA is basically not a rigorous curriculum at all, and students graduating with it are often two years behind in core subjects like maths, science as well,” said Beaton.
Labour respond
Labour education spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said the proposed abolishment of NCEA left unanswered questions and said the last thing students need was “more confusion”.
“Previous rushed overhauls have led to students being the guinea pigs for failed change – like national standards – so we must get this right. Any change must be done with proper sector consultation and be based on evidence that it will lead to better outcomes for all students,” she said.
“I am worried that teachers, parents and whānau have such a short window to share their voices after being excluded in the months leading up to this announcement.
“The Government must ensure any change is evidence-based, has students’ futures in mind and allow time for proper consultation so that we can get this right for all young people and children.”
ACT respond
ACT Leader David Seymour said the party “wholeheartedly supports this move”, saying students deserve a system that is “universally good”.
“Over the time that the NCEA has been in place, New Zealand high school students have fallen badly in the OECD’s PISA study. The study of 15-year-olds in reading, maths, and science is done once every three years.
“In the early 2000s when NCEA was introduced, New Zealand was often in the top five. Today we are 23rd for maths, and in each subject today’s students are about a year behind where the same aged students were at the start of the century.
Seymour said replacing the NCEA with a rich body of real knowledge being richly assessed was “the right direction”.
“If New Zealand is going to be a high income country through the twenty-first century, it must have the policies in place to pass useful knowledge from one generation to the next.”
Greens respond
Greens education spokesperson Lawrence Xu-Nan said the proposal risked “turning back the clock on decades of progress toward a student-centred system”.
“Today’s announcement is another classic case of the Government favouring one-size-fits-all approaches. Our education system is too important to be reduced to a single, rigid framework that will leave many behind.
“Our rangatahi are so much more than just workers-in-training. Education should not be designed simply as an add on to the labour market or to conform to narrow economic thinking, but to grow the whole person.”
He said students deserved a system which equipped them “to achieve their unique potential, not one that measures them against a single standard”.
PPTA respond
PPTA president Chris Abercrombie said Chris Abercrombie said there were many positive aspects of NCEA with “undoubted benefits for students” that should be retained and built on.
“As a standards-based assessment system that is based on the principle that all students should have opportunities to succeed, be rewarded for what they know, and can demonstrate and fulfil their potential, the NCEA has clear advantages over the previous qualification system, which had a built-in failure rate.
“Of course, no system is perfect, and in recent years there has been widespread agreement on improvements to NCEA, including fewer and larger standards, clearer vocational pathways, and a simpler structure.
“However, to the great frustration of teachers these changes either failed to be implemented or resourced adequately. The lack of adequate support for, and political flip flopping on, NCEA means teachers are left trying to fill the gaps. We need stability and certainty,” he said.
Hospitality, business sectors encouraged
Hospitality NZ chief executive Steve Armitage said he was pleased to see the Government considering changes with the potential to “improve vocational pathways, and support hospitality becoming an industry of choice”.
“We’re particularly encouraged by the Government’s commitment to working with industry to design coherent vocational learning packages. This could ensure that hospitality standards reflect the skills and professionalism our sector requires, while giving students a clear pathway from school into hospo careers.”
BusinessNZ chief executive Katherine Rich said the current system was not delivering what students, parents, teachers, or employers needed.
“Whether a school-leaver is heading on to university, an apprenticeship, or directly into work, the education system must offer transparent, reliable guidance to build confidence and inform whatever choice they’re making.”
“This is an opportunity to strengthen the connection between schools, training providers, and industry. By working closer together, we can better support learners with real-world pathways, ensure relevant skills are being learned, and deliver long-term benefits for communities and the economy alike.”
‘A real opportunity’
Kaitaia College principal and Secondary Principals Association president Louise Ānaru-Tangira spoke to Breakfast ahead of the announcement.
Kaitaia College principal and Secondary Principals Association president Louise Ānaru-Tangira spoke to Breakfast ahead of the announcement in Auckland. (Source: Breakfast)
“NCEA has its strengths, it has its areas to improve on. And we know the review has focused around making sure NCEA is robust, it’s internationally comparable but also that it addresses disparities in the system as well.”
“We all want our students to have the very best quality education, to be well-prepared for their future pathways, and our qualifications are a key part of that.”
She warned that schools must be given enough time and resources to make any changes work.
“The key is here in terms of the changes, is being able to implement them effectively.
“In order to do that, principals, secondary schools really need to be resourced adequately. We need to have the time to implement all of the changes effectively.”
She encouraged all principals to engage in consultation to ensure NCEA was “fit for purpose for our individual schools”.
