15% of Kiwi kids leaving school without NCEA qualification

The Facts, Summarised by Centrist

National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) measures yearly academic achievement by assessing students against standards, with each standard covering a specific set of skills and knowledge. For example, a Science standard is: Investigate implications of electricity and magnetism for everyday life. When you achieve a standard, you gain credits. You must achieve a certain number of credits to gain NCEA.

There are 3 levels of NCEA. In general, students work through levels 1 to 3 in years 11 to 13 at school.

Achievement at each level or in a course is recognised with Endorsements. Generally, university admission requires at least level 2 NCEA. 

From the 2022 School Leavers data recently released:

• 15% left without any NCEA qualification (up 50% since 2017’s 10% figure)
  • 25% left without getting NCEA Level 2
    • 48% (~1/2) left without getting NCEA Level 3 or University Entrance (UE) requirements 

21.5% left before turning 17-years-old (up 36% since 2017’s 15.8% figure)

• 33% more 16-year-olds left school
• 63% more 15-year-olds left school
  (data for 14-year-olds wasn’t provided)

Read more over at The Facts