Secondary school statistics

Qualifications completion

Students gain a Qualification by gaining a specified number of credits. Credits are gained by meeting the criteria for a standard, either an Achievement Standard or a Unit Standard.

Students at school may gain various qualifications; NCEA is the main qualification for secondary students, but they may also gain others, such as the National Certificate in Computing. Qualifications may be local (that is, developed and issued by a specific provider like a school or a regional group of providers) or national (that is, quality assured and registered on the Qualifications Framework). Local qualifications are not recognised by NZQA.

All qualifications may be gained over the course of a number of years, although NCEAs are typically gained within a school year. NCEA Level 1 is usually associated with Year 11; NCEA Level 2 with Year 12; and NCEA Level 3 with Year 13. However it is not uncommon for students to take more than one year to gain a qualification, or to gain one earlier than the year it is usually associated with, or to gain more than one in any one year.

Requirements for each of NCEA Levels 1 - 3

An NCEA qualification (level 1) can be issued to learners who have achieved:
1. 80 credits at level 1 or higher
2. eight credits from approved standards for literacy skills
3. eight credits from approved standards for numeracy skills.
An NCEA qualification (level 2) can be issued to learners who have achieved:
1. 60 credits at level 2 or higher
2. 20 credits at any level.
Note: These 20 credits may include credits which counted toward the Level 1 Certificate.
An NCEA qualification (level 3) can be issued to learners who have achieved:
1. 60 credits at level 3 or higher
2. 20 credits at level 2 or higher.
Note: These 20 credits may include credits which counted toward the Level 2 Certificate.

Page updated: 08 May 2009