NCEA Literacy and Numeracy requirements
From 2024, to gain an NCEA qualification, students need to achieve a 20-credit co-requisite using:
- the new Literacy and Numeracy standards
- Te Reo Matatini and Pāngarau standards.
Students achieve these credits by sitting external Common Assessment Activities (CAAs). You can find more information about these assessments on this page.
Some approved literacy and numeracy-rich standards can also be used to achieve the co-requisite.
More information
How to achieve NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3
Approved standards and use restrictions (external link) - NCEA.education
On this page
About Literacy and Numeracy
Literacy and numeracy are foundational skills. Other learning is based on literacy and numeracy, and we use these skills in our daily lives. They're also an important part of NCEA.
Literacy or te reo matatini is the ability to read, write and speak. Numeracy or pāngarau is the ability to use mathematics in daily life.
About Literacy and Numeracy assessments
External Literacy and Numeracy CAAs are digital-first, which means students complete the assessments on a computer.
Students have a minimum of 60 minutes to complete each assessment. But they can take as long as they need provided the assessment is delivered in a single session.
Schools manage the delivery of Literacy and Numeracy CAAs. They decide when to deliver an assessment, but it must be during the 2-week assessment periods we set.
You can find this year's Literacy and Numeracy assessment periods on the key dates page:
Key dates for secondary assessment
More information
Go to the Literacy and Numeracy assessment information page
Administrative and submission instructions for Literacy and Numeracy [PDF, 999 KB]
Assessment continuity plan template [PDF, 124 KB]
Special Assessment Conditions (SAC) for Literacy and Numeracy
What's allowed in a co-requisite assessment?
Allowed
- rulers
- headphones
- power banks
- blank paper provided by the school, for workings
- standard (non-scientific or non-graphing) calculators or approved calculators.
Not allowed
- phones, notes and watches
- internet access
- leaving the Assessment Master platform
- communicating with others.
Past papers and assessment resources
Past Literacy and Numeracy assessment papers, exemplars, and assessment specifications and reports
Results from assessment events
We have collated data on previous Literacy and Numeracy assessment events. This data focuses on student participation and achievement.
The aggregated data is on:
Using unit standards 26622 to 26627 for the co-requisite
A limited number of providers can use the internally assessed unit standards 26622 to 26627 for the Literacy and Numeracy co-requistie.
These providers are:
- Tertiary education organisations (TEOs)
- alternative education providers
- activity centres
- specialist schools
- teen-parent units
- health schools
- youth justice facilities.
Resources for unit standards 26622 to 26627
Important information about using these standards (external link) - NCEA.education
Text-to-speech for co-requisite assessments
Students can use text-to-speech tools in the digital assessments for 32405 Literacy Writing and 32406 Numeracy.
Text-to-speech supports students with low vision, learning differences or reading difficulties by reading text aloud to students.
Students can use Polly, the text-to-speech tool we provide, or they can use an NZQA-approved tool they bring themselves.
More information
You can find helpful resources and information for teachers and students, including explainer videos, on the text-to-speech page: