Source: New Zealand Government
Tēnā koutou katoa,
It’s a privilege to speak with you today about the future of our national secondary qualification.
Thank you to Katherine Rich and Rachel Simpson from Business NZ and to Chapman Tripp for hosting us this morning. Can I thank the Prime Minister for his resolute commitment to raising education achievement in New Zealand. Can I also thank Ellen MacGregor-Reid our excellent Secretary of Education.
I want to begin by acknowledging the incredible work that our superb principals, teachers and educators do every day in our schools to inspire and prepare children for their future.
Can I also acknowledge the principals in the room today, in particular Patrick Gale from Rangitoto College, the chair of the NCEA Professional Advisory Group, who have identified the issues with the status quo and helped develop a new direction for our national qualification.
Last year, we began a transformational journey to raise student achievement and build a world-leading education system.
Our work programme is defined by pace, clarity and a whole system approach to lifting achievement. Every Government initiative, policy, and investment is a part of a very deliberate, coordinated approach to system reform based on the 6 priorities that I laid out at the start of this term.
The Prime Minister has spoken about how our bold education reforms are already beginning to embed in our primary and intermediate schools after just 18 months. As they roll out, it is important to look ahead to ensure that when students reach secondary school, our national qualification reflects the same high standards and ambition.
Today marks an important milestone in our plan to restore excellence in New Zealand’s education system.
For over two decades, NCEA has been the foundation of senior secondary education. It was designed to be flexible, inclusive, and to recognise a wide range of learning. And while it has delivered in some areas. we’ve heard and seen that the flexibility has gone too far and that the complexity has masked poor performance.
I have to admit, as a parent, I didn’t understand NCEA. After years of helping my daughter through it, it didn’t make sense to me that E is better than A. I didn’t know why you can get credits for having a part-time job or filling in forms, and I didn’t understand why kids say that they don’t need to go to exams or participate in chunks of their learning because they already have enough credits.
Now, as Minister of Education, I can see what I intuitively knew as a parent is backed up by the data.
In 2024, the Education Review Office found:
- 60 percent of teachers don’t believe NCEA Level 1 is reliable,
- half of parents and 40% of students don’t understand how the system works,
- 70 percent of employers don’t consider it credible
- And it concluded NCEA Level 1 is not a fair or reliable measure of what students know and can do.
2024 data from NZQA tells us that:
- 25% of students didn’t attempt their external assessments with 250k left blank because they had enough credits.
- A student is twice as likely to gain an excellence grade from an internal assessment than an external exam
- Only 54% of Year 12 students achieved NCEA with three or more full subjects
- 30% of students used unit standards designed for vocational pathways simply to pass NCEA.
This shows that while many students are achieving credits under the current NCEA system, it doesn’t mean they are always gaining a consistent and coherent set of knowledge and skills. For some students, this can be a huge disadvantage, making it harder to progress to a subject in the next year at school, or not preparing them to have strong foundations into future study, training or employment.
Let me give you an example from a teacher that contributed to our review of NCEA:
“If students can gain 10 credits towards their Level 2 certificate from a two-day course on health and safety, this is one-sixth of the credits they need to gain Level 2, then there is a bit of a problem”.
Now imagine that same student hasn’t completed any external assessments, hasn’t studied a full subject, and leaves school with a qualification that doesn’t sufficiently pave the way into university or employment.
We need a national qualification that sets students up for success, that gives employers confidence, gives tertiary providers clarity. One that parents understand and one that gives students a real sense of pride in what they’ve worked hard to achieve.
Parents we know you want your children to leave school confident and as ready as they can be for their future.
I want parents to know that we are ambitious for your kids. And we want them to do the best they can at school too.
Until now, no Government has been bold enough to take decisive action. But we are so our kids get the very best chance to succeed. Today we are proud to announce our proposal to replace NCEA.
We are proposing to remove NCEA Level 1 and replace it with a Foundational Award focussed on numeracy and literacy skills. We are currently one of a few countries we compare ourselves to that have three years of high stakes assessments.
As a result, students would be able spend Year 11 focused on the deep learning and rich experiences that will prepare them for Years 12 and 13.
Mastering the basics is non-negotiable, no matter what ambitions or career paths students have in mind. That’s why we are proposing to make English and Mathematics compulsory subjects at Year 11. This is already the case in many schools, but not all. The Foundational Award will be designed to ramp into new qualifications at Year 12 and Year 13.
We know the longer students stay at school the better their outcomes, and while the intention would be for students to stay for Year 12, the Foundational Award will provide potential employers with a sense of a school-leaver’s knowledge in fundamental areas of literacy and numeracy
We are proposing to replace Level 2 and 3 with the New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) at Year 12 and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE) at Year 13.
Students will be required to take a minimum of five subjects and to pass four of them to be awarded it.
Both qualifications will be simpler, clearer, and internationally comparable.
We are also proposing to introduce a subject based approach. This means students will be assessed on their understanding of whole subjects, underpinned by a refreshed, knowledge-rich, internationally benchmarked, a nationally consistent curriculum that students will be assessed against, not just a collection of unrelated standards.
We want to make the new qualification less complex, so everyone is clear where a student is at with their learning and what is required to access further study, training or work. It’s crucial that parents know how guide their children and to understand how they are progressing.
Parents can’t help their children improve their grades when they don’t know what they mean.
That’s why not achieved, achieved, merit and excellence will go.
Instead, each subject would have internal and external assessments that add up to a mark out of 100, that aligns with a grade of A, B, C, D. For example, two internal assessments and two external assessments worth 25 points each.
We want there to be more coherence, more consistency, and more clarity of what students know and can do.
Vocational pathways are vital.
We must raise the status of Vocational Education and Training pathways to be seen in this country as on par with academic pathways. We are producing the master builders, the expert tradespeople, the highly skilled automotive engineers and innovators in agri-tech of the future. Our economy runs on skilled tradespeople who are masters of their trade and VET pathways at high school must be strengthened.
We know industry knows best.
That’s why we are proposing to work with trade and industry through the Industry Skills Boards to design coherent packages of learning with assessments that align with industry and tertiary qualifications, making staying at school relevant for every child, no matter what their career pathway.
A student, for example, may sit building and construction A and building and construction B, each subject made up of a set of highly relevant skills standards determined by industry. They may also sit English, maths and music to give them their 5 subjects.
More meaningful VET pathways will see students engaged in learning and in school longer. And working with industry will mean that employers can trust that students are well-prepared for a career with them.
We want to make sure our national qualification opens doors for every young person, whether they’re heading into a trade, university, or straight into work
Let me also be clear about what’s not changing. We’re proposing to keep the best parts of NCEA.
We will continue to recognise excellence and motivate students to receive endorsements, we’re retaining the ability to tailor learning to different pathways, whether academic or vocational. And we’re continuing to balance internal assessments with end of year exams. Students will be incentivised to participate in all assessments, as every mark is recognised and rewarded.
We’re removing the guesswork. We’re removing the confusion. And we’re removing the risk that a student can leave school with a qualification that doesn’t have them ready for life beyond school.
As I’ve said, proposal has been led by some of the country’s leading principals. I’d like to sincerely thank my Professional Advisory Group for their work and advice. Special thanks to the group’s chair Patrick Gale who will say a few words shortly.
Students who are currently Year 9, like my son, will continue to receive secondary school learning under the old curriculum and will be assessed under NCEA Levels 1, 2, and 3.
Students who are currently Year 8 would begin to receive new curriculum learning from 2026 and will be assessed under the new award and qualifications. This careful phasing will give teachers time to implement the new curriculum and new national qualifications.
I know parents of Year 8 students will be thinking that their children would be the first cohort under the proposed new qualification.
I want to assure you that we are planning for successful implementation. We will work closely with subject, principal and teacher associations to ensure everything is in place for 2028. Sector input will be vital.
We are building a qualification system that sets high expectations and provides the support to meet them. One that values both academic and vocational learning. And one that prepares our young people for a rapidly changing world.
Every student deserves the chance to succeed and to gain a qualification that is highly regarded both here in New Zealand and around the world.
We’re making sure that every student, regardless of background, has that chance.
This change is about ambition. It’s about raising achievement. And it’s about better outcomes for our young people. Parents are ambitious for their children, and so are we.
For the next six weeks, consultation is open, we want to hear from you about our proposal. I encourage everyone to read it in full because this is so important.
Education is the great equaliser and the greatest protective cloak we have to wrap around our children.
If we want a strong, productive economy with high wages and standards of living, we educate our kids.
If we want to reduce benefit dependency and inter-generational cycles of poverty, we educate our kids.
If we want the entrepreneurs, tech experts, climate and rocket scientists of the future, we educate our kids.
Your means should not determine your destiny, and a strong, consistent national qualification sets our children up for a better life.
This is an opportunity to shape our country’s future.
Doing nothing is not an option.
This change is bold, but it’s needed, and we will deliver.
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.
