NZQA Insights papers are intended to draw on our data and information to provide insights into qualification, assessment, and quality assurance matters.
Insights papers have a particular focus on equity issues, good practice and bringing to life administrative data that will support education system improvement.
Poipoia kia puāwai - How schools support ākonga Māori and Pacific students to attain University Entrance
Published June 2024
Poipoia kia puāwai is our latest Insights paper. This report examines key aspects and the approaches that schools adopted to support ākonga Māori and Pacific students to attain University Entrance (UE).
The research, undertaken by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER), looked at six schools with above-average UE attainment for ākonga Māori and Pacific students, exploring the foundations of their success and the initiatives these schools carried out to support UE attainment.
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He Muka Herenga Tangata - Embedding mātauranga Māori within programmes
Published March 2024
Tertiary education organisations (TEOs) are at various stages in their journey to weave mātauranga Māori into non-mātauranga Māori programmes of learning. NZQA has met with some TEOs to talk with them about how they have been able to do this. We have named this project He Muka Herenga Tangata.
The project aims to develop a community within which TEOs can safely reflect on where they are in their journey and how they might improve their practice for the sake of their ākonga. This paper tells the journey of SAE – Creative Media Institute.
Read the paper or download a PDF
Video: He Muka Herenga Tangata - The SAE story (5:50 mins)
Ngā whai painga o Te Ao Haka: The positive impacts of Te Ao Haka
Published in 2023
What happens when a subject like Te Ao Haka is given mana orite (equal status) in Aotearoa's school system?
Ngā whai painga o Te Ao Haka: The positive impacts of Te Ao Haka for ākonga, whānau, and kaiako is a kaupapa Māori research study that was conducted by Rangahau Mātauranga o Aotearoa, New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER).
Read the report and learn about the benefits for ākonga Māori, whānau, and kaiako.
Read the summary of the full report [PDF, 774 KB]
The full report sets out how the research was done and the benefits that were observed.
Supporting Equity for Māori and Pacific students in New Zealand Scholarship
Published 8 June 2023
This paper aims to help schools consider their practises for identifying students to enter for New Zealand Scholarship (Scholarship) and the support provided to students; and makes recommendations that schools might consider to provide more equitable opportunities for Māori and Pacific students.
Improving relevance and responsiveness
Aotearoa New Zealand’s early micro-credentials journey
Published 21 September 2022
This paper looks at why NZQA added micro-credentials to the New Zealand Qualifications Framework, and what we have learned.
Read the paper or download a PDF
Aotearoa New Zealand’s rationale for micro-credentials
Published 21 September 2022
This paper looks at why we added micro-credentials to the New Zealand Qualifications Framework 3 years ago.
NCEA pathways through senior secondary
Published 17 June 2022
This paper looks at five data signposts which can indicate whether ākonga Māori and Pacific students at secondary school are on equitable pathways to academic success.
University Entrance: Do current programmes lead to equity for ākonga Māori and Pacific students?
Published 17 June 2022
This paper examines some of the conditions which contribute to Māori and Pacific students being awarded University Entrance at half the rate of other students.