NCEA for Employers

This article is part of a series covering off some key questions and areas of interest for employers. For more information, see the NZQA and Employers section.

NCEA is the main qualification for senior secondary school students in New Zealand; and is internationally recognised.

NCEA is registered on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework (NZQCF). This means employers can be confident it is quality assured, and that when someone presents an NCEA qualification, it has integrity, meaning and value.

What is NCEA?

NCEA stands for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement, and it is available at Levels 1, 2 and 3. NCEA Level 1 provides people with a solid foundation of skills and knowledge that can be built on. NCEA Level 2 is the minimum qualification for some jobs and tertiary programmes. NCEA Level 3 prepares people to study at higher levels including industry and vocational qualifications.

Most students in Year 11 (the old 5th Form) work towards Level 1 NCEA, and progress to Level 2 in Year 12 and Level 3 in Year 13. Some schools focus on Level 2 across years 11 and 12. It’s not unusual to study at a mix of different levels.

How does NCEA work?

In school, students study courses. Each course is assessed by standards. Each standard covers a specific area of knowledge (for example, ‘Demonstrate understanding of atomic and nuclear physics’), or a particular skill (such as ‘Use advanced techniques to develop a database’).

When students achieve a standard, they earn the total number of credits that standard is worth, and it’s these credits that build towards NCEA. Student work is assessed and awarded a grade, depending on the quality of the student work. Some standards have just two grades – Achieved (which means the student demonstrated they have the knowledge or can perform the skill set out in the standard) and Not Achieved (which means they could not show the knowledge or skill required) – however, most standards also have grades for Merit (which means the student has a very good level of knowledge or skill) and Excellence (the student has an extremely high level of knowledge or skill). Students are recognised for high achievement by earning Merit and Excellence endorsements.

To be awarded an NCEA, students need to achieve at least 60 credits at a level and a minimum literacy (or te reo matatini) and numeracy (or te pāngarau) requirement (10 credits in each).

For example, for a student to be awarded NCEA Level 3, they need to achieve 60 credits in standards at Level 3, as well as 10 credits in literacy and 10 credits in numeracy.

In addition to finding out from prospective employees what level of NCEA they have, you might want to know what courses they took, whether they earned any endorsements, or even what standards they achieved, to get an idea of what they know and can do.

Moving from school to tertiary study or employment

Students need University Entrance (UE) to go directly from school to university. Being awarded UE also opens doors to tertiary study in other countries.

To be awarded UE, students need to achieve NCEA Level 3 and meet specific subject, literacy and numeracy requirements.

Vocational Pathways map certain assessment standards to six broad industry sectors: Creative Industries, Primary Industries, Service Industries, Social and Community Services, Construction and Infrastructure, and Manufacturing and Technology. A Vocational Pathways Award signals that students have achieved a significant set of NCEA Level 2 standards that align with the knowledge and skills often needed in that sector.

Prospective employees may show you their New Zealand Record of Achievement when applying for a role. This is an official record of all the NZQA quality assured qualifications and standards that a person has achieved. It also shows awards such as University Entrance and Vocational Pathways. They may also show you a School Results Summary which is a record of the results they gained while at school.

Alongside the information you acquire from a job interview or a practical demonstration, these records provide confidence that a prospective employee has the necessary skills and attributes for a role.