Key dates and information
Please refer to the online version of the Key Dates to ensure you have access to the most up to date information.
Go to Key dates for secondary assessment
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22 March |
Candidate information sheets (for candidates entering externals) sent to schools |
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25 March |
Data file submission opens. Web entries application opens. |
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1 April |
Data file submission deadline for entries into Literacy and Numeracy assessment event 1 |
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3-4 April |
Literacy & Numeracy | Te Reo Matatini me Te Pāngarau webinars |
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30 April |
Last release of 2023 Principal’s reports (from final data cut 3 April) |
On this page
General administration and data
Key indicators - digital assessments with multiple opportunities
There is a new report to help schools/kura manage their entries into CAAs/TAPA. The report is called Digital Assessments with Multiple Opportunities, and it is on the Key Indicators page of your Provider Login. Click on the blue ‘Digital Entries’ number to see which opportunity a student is entered for.
Outlier reports
NZQA has responsibility for ensuring the national consistency of assessor judgements for internally assessed results as well as for derived grade results at scale. As part of this responsibility, NZQA monitors the results patterns from assessment in schools at a subject area level, to identify instances of significant variation. You will also want to investigate the reasons for the variation to be confident that your assessment results are credible.
These reports include:
- an Internal External Comparison Outlier Report which is generated by subject and level for those schools where their internal compared to external modelled results differ significantly in a statistical sense from comparable schools (Equity Index Group)
- a Derived Grade Comparison Outlier Report which is generated when a school’s pattern of derived grades at scale reported for unexpected events in a subject differs by two standard deviations or more from its final external results, with reference to comparable schools (Equity Index Group).
If your 2023 results have generated an outlier report, you will have received an email from us. You can access the reports in your Provider Login under High Security. If the outlier page has the message ‘No comparison report available to download’ it means your 2023 data did not identify any outlier subjects.
MyNZQA learner account and learner login
Once your first data file submission has been processed by NZQA, you may want to help students use their MyNZQA learner account. This account enables students to check their entries and results held by NZQA. It gives them access to a range of processes not available elsewhere, such as printing official copies of their Record of Achievement and ordering a copy of an NCEA Certificate. These login credentials are also used to access assessments on the digital platform.
To create an account, a student needs their NSN, date of birth, an email address and a 7-character password. Your Student Management System can generate a list of NSNs, or students may be able to view them through their student portal. NSN cards are no longer being produced. A circular will be published soon with further detail.
The MyNZQA learner account guide has been updated and is a useful resource for helping your students to register. There is also a short video available to assist students with creating a new account. Resources are available on the Resources for Principal’s Nominees page:
New circulars available
A2024/6 Updates to 2024 Assessment Specifications for NCEA
A2024/5 Derived grades for the new achievement standards
A2024/4 Changes to Kete Manarua submission due dates for Te Marautanga o Aotearoa wāhanga ako
A2024/3 2024 Candidate information sheets (March) – Entering NCEA and NZ Scholarship
A2024/2 Changes to Classical Studies NZ Scholarship Examination in 2024
External moderation
External moderation plan
You should have access to your 2024 external moderation plan. Please ensure that your staff check carefully that they plan to assess the selected standards this year. Contact your School Relationship Manager if you need to suggest any changes, or if you are not able to submit moderation for a standard by 20 October.
For further detail about the changes to external moderation this year, please refer to the September 2023 circular and the external moderation page:
A2023/14 changes to external moderation
The user guide for the External Moderation Application can be found online:
External Moderation Application user guide [PDF, 3.7 MB]
If you are having problems with the system timing out when uploading files, then the files are most likely too large. Ideally you should use cloud storage such as Google Drive and save the access link into the moderation submission. There is reference to this in Appendix D of the guide.
Support for learners and whānau
Guide to NCEA
PDF copies of the Guide to NCEA are available to view or download on the NZQA website:
Currently these are available in English and te reo Māori.
PDF versions in Cook Islands Māori, Fijian, Kiribati, Niuean, Samoan and Tongan will also be available soon.
Hard copies of the Guide are currently being printed for schools that had ordered them. This limited print run is now closed and due to cost, no additional print runs are planned at this time.
Support for kaiako and teachers
Teachers new to NCEA standards-based assessment
Our online training module Teachers New to NCEA Standards-Based Assessment is now available. This resource is particularly designed to support new and returning teachers, primary-trained teachers, teachers new to Aotearoa New Zealand, and those trained in other jurisdictions.
The resources include a workbook with activities, a presentation and an online course.
They cover the basics of NCEA, standards-based assessment, student-centred internal assessment, marking and quality assurance.
Find the workbook and presentation on the Resources for Principals’ Nominees page on the NZQA website, and the online course on Pūtake.
Literacy and Numeracy |Te Reo Matatini me Te Pāngarau
Entries for the first Literacy and Numeracy |Te Reo Matatini me Te Pāngarau assessment event
- Please ensure students being assessed in the first assessment event were included in your 1 April entries file and that the correct assessment opportunity has been selected. Note the Term 2 event is Assessment Opportunity 1 (AO1). We cannot guarantee entries received in the two weeks before the assessment will be processed in time to allow access to the platform.
- New 2024 credentials for digital assessments will be created for schools/kura with entries and emailed from assessment.service.centre@nzqa.govt.nz on Monday 29 April.
- Students can access past digital exams from their student login under the 'Find past digital exams' page in the left-hand navigation bar. Please note this function will be disabled during the Assessment Opportunity weeks.
Further support
The Ministry of Education co-requisite resource pages include:
- recent improvements made to the co-requisite standards
- guidance on determining akonga readiness
- independent external evaluation of the 2022 pilots.
Ministry of Education co-requisite resource pages (external link)
Information about the assessment is available on the NZQA Literacy and Numeracy web pages:
If you have any questions in the meantime, please email us:
assessment.service.centre@nzqa.govt.nz
Text-to-speech applications
Certain text-to-speech applications (including “Polly”) will be available for the English Writing and the Numeracy assessments. Further detailed information will be provided soon.
Students who have already gained the literacy and/or numeracy co-requisite
Importing a 2023 results file into your SMS should ensure your SMS shows which of your students have already gained their literacy and/or numeracy co-requisite. You can also obtain a list of students using the Literacy and Numeracy Report in the Statistics section of the Provider Login.
Further details of how to use the Literacy and Numeracy Report are on page 6 of the Statistics Users Guide:
Statistics Users Guide (external link)
For students who have moved to your school this year, create a file to import into your SMS using the Candidate Results from other Providers link in File Downloads. Ensure you tick Include Qualifications when selecting the criteria for the report. This will also create a PDF document and spreadsheet which shows if the student has gained the literacy and/or numeracy co-requisite.
Update to Literacy and Numeracy |Te Reo Matatini me Te Pāngarau transition arrangements
The following is an update to the transition arrangements presented at the Leading National Assessment seminars. It includes:
- when a co-requisite completed before 2024 can contribute to a qualification, and
- when a co-requisite completed using the additional standards for use in 2024 and 2025 can contribute to a qualification.
Advice for students considering overseas universities
NCEA Level 3 with University Entrance (UE) is widely recognised overseas. However, each country, state or university may set additional entry requirements. If students are thinking of studying overseas in the future, they need to choose the right subjects and may need to achieve more credits than the minimum needed for NCEA.
Advice for students considering overseas universities (external link)
NZQA’s Policy and International team supports the recognition of NZ qualifications internationally. If you have any questions or comments, please email:
Special Assessment Conditions (SAC)
Literacy and Numeracy |Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau
Instructions on the provision of SAC for the assessment of the dedicated co-requisite standards can be found online:
Literacy and Numeracy SAC provisions
Braille papers for the first assessment event (May) for the dedicated co-requisite assessments
If you have a student requiring Braille papers for the first co-requisite assessment in May, you should have already submitted a SAC application. Please contact the SAC team if you need to discuss this requirement further.
Student access to SAC entitlements
Students can now log in to their NZQA Learner Login to view their approved SAC entitlements via the Special Assessment Conditions Entitlement link. Their approved entitlements can also be printed out via the PDF link. This may be useful for students requiring this confirmation for tertiary institutions.
SAC timeline
The timeline of monthly processes related to SAC can be found online:
Support
Please email us if you have any questions or need support on SAC processes:
Special Assessment Conditions (SAC)
2024 applications
New applications can be submitted for 2024. The first deadline for applications is the end of Term 1.
Any request to change SACs can be made during the rollover process if needed, even if these have previously been declined.
The link to process rollovers of 2023 applications can be found through your school’s provider login.
The optional notifications gateway for new Level 1 SAC applications is now available as a trial for 2024.
Find out more about the notifications gateway
Help with the online applications process can be found in the:
SAC online tool guide [PDF, 1.5 MB]
Transferring SAC students to or from your school
If a 2023 SAC student has left your school and you know the name of their new school, please email the SAC team with the details of their new school so we can transfer their SAC application.
If you become aware that a newly enrolled student had SAC support at their previous school, please email the SAC team and provide their name, NSN and name of previous school, and we will transfer the application to your list.
If the SAC application was a notification (including computer only notification), the application will be transferred to your draft SAC list. This enables you to determine the appropriateness of the SAC provided and to resubmit the application accordingly.
If the SAC application was assessed and approved by NZQA (and this will be for most 2023 applications) then the application with be transferred to your Submitted SAC list which is consistent with past practice.
SAC seminars
We are planning a number of online options. We will let you know when these are available.
Support
Please email us if you have any questions or need support on SAC processes:
Te Pā Mātauranga
Te Pā Mātauranga is the landing page where you can find all information and resources for:
- Field Māori
- Te Marautanga o Aotearoa wāhanga ako
- Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau
- New Zealand Curriculum – kaupapa ako Māori (Te Reo Māori and Te Ao Haka).
You can visit Te Pā Mātauranga by clicking on the ‘Māori’ tab at the top of the NZQA home page and selecting Te Pā Mātauranga in the menu. You can still access the subject pages via the main NCEA subjects page:
Go to the NCEA subjects page (external link)
External assessment modes – TAPA and Kete Manarua
Information about the two external assessment modes, Tūmahi Aromatawai Pātahi (TAPA) and Kete Manarua (Digital Submission), can be found on our website:
Find out more about the two external assessment modes
Ngā aā aromatawai (assessment dates)
The 2024 assessment dates for all TMoA wāhanga ako, Te Reo Māori, Te Ao Haka, and Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau are available on the subject and wāhanga ako pages. This includes external assessment dates for TAPA and Kete Manarua, and the internal assessment Kāhui dates for external moderation.
PN checklist - Ngā māhi
Also refer to the Action items for Principal's Nominees page:
Action items for Principal’s Nominee by calendar month
Teacher markbooks
- Ensure you have downloaded your school’s consents file.
- Check accuracy of markbooks for external and internal standards, including versions, against the school's consent to assess.
- Check student details are correct on your SMS.
- Check course names against guidelines for naming courses and course endorsement.
1 April data file submission
- Check Key Indicators from your Provider login following NZQA file processing.
Learner login
- Assist students to register with NZQA and create their MyNZQA learner account.
External moderation
- Check your external moderation plan.
- Inform your SRM of any requested changes and if moderation material will need to be submitted after 20 October.