Insights on 2022 NCEA, UE and NZ Scholarship released

8 June 2023

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) has released its Annual Report on NCEA, University Entrance and New Zealand Scholarship Data and Statistics (external link) from 2022.

More than 160,000 Year 11, 12 and 13 students worked towards NCEA in 2022.

“This report is a deeper dive into NCEA and University Entrance attainment data from 2022, which was the third year affected by COVID-19,” says NZQA Deputy Chief Executive Assessment, Jann Marshall.

For the first time, the report analyses the uptake of achievement standards by subject. This shows the New Zealand Curriculum subjects with the highest number of results at each level last year were:

  • Level 1: Mathematics – Statistics, where 71,617 students from 469 schools and other providers were assessed in one or more standard
  • Level 2: English (46,199 students from 463 schools and other providers)
  • Level 3: Mathematics – Statistics (31,548 students from 424 schools and other providers).

The Annual Report on NCEA, University Entrance and New Zealand Scholarship also provides information and statistics on:

  • NCEA and University Entrance Literacy and Numeracy attainment
  • NCEA Certificate Endorsement and Course Endorsement attainment
  • 2022 New Zealand Scholarship awards
  • results by standard type (achievement and unit standard)
  • NCEA administrative processes, such as Special Assessment Conditions and investigations into breaches of exam rules. 

The report provides data over 10 years where possible, disaggregated by gender, ethnicity and school decile band. For the first time, the report disaggregates data from Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA) students.

Alongside the report, NZQA has released an Insights paper based on two years of research, looking more deeply into factors that impact on equitable participation of Māori and Pacific students in New Zealand Scholarship.

“The paper finds ākonga Māori and Pacific students are entered for NZ Scholarship at disproportionately low rates, and typically in fewer NZ Scholarship subjects,” Jann Marshall says.

“Amongst the paper’s recommendations, it notes that achievement of 14 or more Excellence credits at NCEA Level 2 in a subject can be used as one of the signposts that a student has the potential of achieving NZ Scholarship in that subject,” Jann Marshall says.