This article is part of a series covering off some key questions and areas of interest for parents and whānau. For more information, see the Resources for parents and whānau section.
NCEA is for everyone, whether they want to do an apprenticeship, go on to further study, or be ready to get a job when they leave school. It’s the main set of qualifications for senior secondary school students in New Zealand; and internationally recognised.
Getting NCEA makes a difference to how much you will earn in the future. Within nine years of leaving school, people with NCEA Level 2 earn twice as much, on average, as people with no qualification.
NCEA stands for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement. It is available at Levels 1, 2 and 3. NCEA Level 1 will provide students with a solid foundation of skills and knowledge that they can build on. NCEA Level 2 is the minimum qualification they will need for some jobs and tertiary programmes. NCEA Level 3 prepares students for study towards tertiary qualifications.
To go from school directly into university or degree level study, students will need University Entrance (UE). One of the requirements for UE is NCEA Level 3.
Level 1 of NCEA is mostly completed by Year 11 students, with them progressing 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. For example, someone might be doing mostly Level 2 courses, but start something new at Level 1 or study a course at Level 3 because they are good at it.
Students don’t have to finish one level of NCEA before starting to work towards the next one.
In school, students study courses. Each course is assessed by standards. Each standard covers a specific area of knowledge (for example, ‘Demonstrate understanding of usability in human-computer interfaces’), or a particular skill (such as ‘Assess the feasibility and viability of a potential small business opportunity’).
Assessments require students to demonstrate that they know or can do what is covered in a standard. When they 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 one of the following four grades, depending on the quality of the student work, namely: Not Achieved, Achieved, Merit or Excellence. Some standards only result in Not Achieved or Achieved.
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) co-requisite requirement (10 credits in each).
An NCEA qualification will not be awarded until a student achieves their NCEA literacy and numeracy co-requisite requirement. Students have a number of opportunities to achieve their NCEA co-requisite requirement, including when they have left school.
Assessment measures what someone has learned. A student might show this in different ways, such as by analysing a text, writing an essay or giving a speech or a performance.
Their work may be assessed internally or externally.
Internal assessments are set and marked by teachers at the school. External assessments are set by NZQA and marked by panels of NZQA contracted experts (mainly teachers). This includes end-of-year exams (digital or on paper), Common Assessment Activities, and portfolios of work or kete manarua done at school and then submitted to NZQA for marking. External assessment happens at specific times during the year, including the end-of-year exam period.
Course Endorsements recognise achievement in a particular course.
To be awarded an endorsement in most courses, a student needs 14 credits at Achieved, Merit or Excellence in a course in a single year, with at least three credits to come from internal assessment and at least three from external assessment.
Credits at either Excellence or Merit can count towards Merit endorsements, while credits at Excellence, Merit or Achieved can count towards Achieved endorsements.
Not all courses will have endorsements available – students can check with their school to confirm.
Certificate Endorsement shows high achievement across the courses a student has studied.
When a student gains 50 or more credits at Excellence in a level of NCEA, their certificate for that level will be endorsed with Excellence. When they gain 50 or more credits at Merit (or a mix of Merit and Excellence) at a level, their NCEA certificate for that level will be endorsed with Merit.
To go directly from school to university, a student will need University Entrance (UE). Being awarded UE also opens doors to tertiary study in other countries.
To be awarded UE, they need all of the following:
Students can check with their school that they are taking least three UE approved subjects and can meet the UE literacy and numeracy requirements.
Further details about UE requirements.
Universities have their own requirements for admission to programmes. Students should check with the university they wish to attend what its requirements are
.