Changes to qualifications 1970-2001
- New Zealand Year 12 (Form Six)
- University Entrance
- Sixth Form Certificate
- New Zealand Year 13 (Form Seven)
- Other awards
- Further information
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority receives a number of enquiries regarding New Zealand school qualifications since 1970. This document provides explanations regarding the changes to school qualifications associated with the final two years of New Zealand schooling during this time. It should be noted that Year 13 (Form 7) is the final year of secondary education in New Zealand, and is equivalent to Year 12 in the Australian and a number of other education systems.
Note. Since the mid-1990s, New Zealand has been moving towards a standards-based national schools qualifications system, and many schools have been using unit standards in addition to or instead of the qualifications described in what follows. Between 2002 and 2004, the qualifications described below will be phased out and replace by National Certificates of Educational Achievement.
New Zealand Year 12 (Form Six)
From 1970 to 1986, there were two qualifications in Year 12 - University Entrance and Sixth Form Certificate.
University Entrance
University Entrance could be gained in four or five (or in some cases, six) subjects. There were two ways in which a candidate could gain the qualification.
- The candidate could be accredited (in four or five subjects) for entrance to a university in New Zealand if his/her school was approved as an accrediting school. In this case, the candidate's school deemed, through a programme of internal assessment, that the candidate had reached a satisfactory standard with regard to University Entrance over the subjects in which he/she was accredited. Standards were maintained by requiring that some candidates from each accrediting school were awarded the qualification through the external University Entrance examinations - see the next paragraph.
- Candidates who were not accredited could sit national external University Entrance examinations. They were awarded the University Entrance qualification by scoring a total of at least 200 marks in four subjects. A mark of at least 35% in English was required, and subjects in which less than 30% was scored could not be included in the total. Candidates could also qualify for University Entrance from University Bursaries, a Year 13 national examination. The qualification was awarded to candidates who gained a total of at least 200 marks, including English, with a mark of at least 25% being required in any subject for it to count towards the total.
From 1974 to 1985, University Entrance could be gained from accumulating at least four single-subject passes in either the University Entrance examination or the University Bursaries examination. For this purpose, a subject pass was awarded to a candidate who scored at least 50 marks in the subject in the University Entrance examinations or at least 40 marks in the University Bursaries examinations. The subjects passed had to include English for University Entrance to be gained.
Sixth Form Certificate
Sixth Form Certificate was originally developed to allow schools to provide a more comprehensive range of courses than was available from University Entrance subjects. Sixth Form Certificate has always been internally assessed by schools. Grades on a scale of 1 to 9 are awarded in individual subjects, with a grade 1 representing the highest achievement and grade 9 the lowest achievement. Sixth Form Certificate grades have the following meanings (the percentages apply nationally across all subjects):
grade 1 top 4%
grade 2 next 6%
grade 3 next 10%
grade 4 next 17%
grade 5 next 23%
grade 6 next 23%
grade 7 next 12%
grade 8 lowest 6%, other than grade 9
grade 9 informal (less than 1%).
It should be noted that the percentages of each grade awarded nationally for a particular subject is not predetermined and differs from one subject to another. Also, in any subject in which a candidate is deemed by his/her school to not have completed adequate work or met satisfactory attendance requirements, the candidate is awarded Incomplete in that subject.
Comparability of Sixth Form Certificate grades between schools is maintained by a nationally administered moderation system. Schools are given guidance in relation to procedures to apply to provide comparability between the grades awarded for different subjects within the school.
In general, there was no direct connection between University Entrance and Sixth Form Certificate.
From and including 1986, University Entrance has no longer been available as a Year 12 qualification; University Entrance has been obtained primarily from the University Bursaries (Year 13) examinations. Since 1986, Sixth Form Certificate has been the principal qualification at Year 12 level.
New Zealand Year 13 (Form Seven)
The University Bursaries (often referred to as Bursaries) examination was implemented in schools in 1966 as a Year 13 qualification. Each Bursaries subject is awarded a grade as follows:
grade A marks between 66 and 100
grade B marks between 56 and 65
grade C marks between 46 and 55
grade D marks between 30 and 45
grade E marks between 0 and 29.
Candidates who score a total of 300 marks in no more than five subjects are awarded an A Bursary, and candidates who score between 250 and 299 marks inclusive are awarded a B Bursary.
Since 1986, University Entrance has been obtained from the University Bursaries results. Between 1986 and 1992 inclusive, the University Entrance qualification was awarded to candidates who scored grades D or higher in at least four Bursaries subjects. From and including 1993, the University Entrance qualification has been awarded to candidates who:
- either scored grades C or better in at least three Bursaries subjects and were awarded Higher School Certificate
- gained an A or a B Bursary.
Higher School Certificate is a course completion award, granted to candidates who have completed five years of New Zealand secondary level education beginning at Year 9, and who are deemed by their school to have satisfactorily completed a Year 13, 60% of which is at a level of study beyond Year 12. Its principal purpose is to certify the satisfactory completion of five years' secondary schooling and, as a consequence, that the holder has a basic preparedness, including English language and study skills, for tertiary study.
Since 1999, it has also been possible to use unit standard credits towards University Entrance.
Other awards
For many years, there has been another level of achievement recognised in Year 13 - Scholarship. (Note that there has also been, for some years, an independent, private Scholarship examination administered by the New Zealand Education and Scholarship Trust.) Prior to 1990, there were separate scholarship examinations, but since 1990 scholarships have been awarded to the 3 - 4% of candidates with the highest marks in each Bursaries subject.
The full title of the Year 13 examination currently is the University Entrance, Bursaries and Scholarships examination. This reflects their multiple purposes - the award of University Entrance, A and B Bursaries and Scholarships.
Further information
Further information, including other New Zealand school qualifications and special procedures for the admission of students to university, can be obtained from:
Unit: NZQA Communications New Zealand Qualifications Authority Address: Box 160 Wellington New Zealand Telephone: 64 4 463 3000 Email: Communications
Page updated: 20 December 2002