The Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, has announced a proposal to replace NCEA with a more consistent, coherent, and credible qualification pathway.  

National and international evidence suggests NCEA is not working as well as it could, and it’s important that students have the opportunity to leave school with qualifications that set them up well for future employment, training, or study. To improve our qualification system, the Minister has opened consultation on a proposal to replace NCEA with a new qualification pathway that is easier to understand, more trustworthy, and better at guiding the learning that matters.

The proposal to replace NCEA focuses on four key areas: 

1. Working with Industry Skills Boards to make sure students in vocational pathways get the real-world knowledge and   skills they need to succeed in the industry.
2. Removing Level 1 to focus on two years of assessment instead of three, and introducing a new award that focuses specifically on foundational literacy, numeracy, te reo matatini, and pāngarau skills. 
3. Moving to a structured subject approach to assessment, and introducing required subjects to make sure students don’t miss out on important learning. 
4. Making grades easier to understand, and changing how students get their qualifications so that they accurately represent students’ knowledge and skills.   
    

Have your say 

Consultation on the changes is currently open, meaning anyone can provide feedback on the proposal between 4 August and 15 September.  

More detailed information about the proposal is available on our website here, including the ways that you can provide feedback and how your feedback will be used to inform future decisions: 

Consultation on proposal to replace NCEA (education.govt.nz) 
 

We are also holding a series of webinars from 11 August to help kaiako and leaders understand the proposal. You can sign up to one of those sessions on the consultation home page.