We are proposing new senior secondary qualifications that are internationally benchmarked, aligned with the content of the curriculum refresh, less complex, have stronger and clearer vocational pathways, a focus on foundational skills, and more consistency in how we assess students. At a high level, key elements of this proposal include:
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Removing NCEA Level 1 so Year 11 students can focus on preparing for their main secondary qualifications in Years 12 and 13.
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Introducing a standalone Foundational Skills Award at Year 11, to recognise literacy and numeracy and to recognise progress, enable students to experience success and encourage their ongoing engagement with the Year 12 and Year 13 qualification.
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Requiring students take English and Mathematics as subjects at Year 11.
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Replacing NCEA Levels 2 and 3 with two new qualifications: the New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) at Year 12, and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE) at Year 13.
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Replacing the standards-based assessment system with a subject-based approach that requires coherent and consistent programmes of learning underpinned by the national curriculum rather than a collection of individual standards.
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Requiring students to take a minimum of five subjects in Year 12 and Year 13 and passing four of them to be awarded the qualification.
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Retaining a mixture of internal and external assessments but moving to a clear mark our of 100 for each subject overall alongside letter grades (A-E), to make achievement easier to understand and incentivising students to sit their exams as every mark counts toward the final grade.
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Creating new industry aligned standards and consistent packages of learning to support stronger vocational pathways, co-designed with industry experts in areas like construction, automotive engineering and hospitality that can be integrated into the secondary qualification.
Supporting implementation
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Should this proposal proceed, I have directed NZQA to move as close as possible to full external marking of all internal and external assessments by 2029 to reduce the workload on teachers and to have more consistent grading. This is as a result of the strong advocacy of the PPTA and the wider sector around teacher workload.
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The Professional Advisory Group will continue to work with the Ministry and advise me on implementation support, professional learning and development and resources to support any changes that are introduced. We know from the NCEA Level 1 roll-out that quality implementation with sufficient time for the sector to prepare and embed the changes is absolutely key to success. The proposed timeline is designed to reflect this inbuilt time for quality change.
Timeline under this proposal
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Students who are currently Year 9 will continue to receive secondary school learning under the old curriculum and will be assessed under NCEA Levels 1, 2, and 3.
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Students who are currently Year 8 will begin to receive new curriculum learning from 2026 and will be assessed under the new award and qualifications. This careful phasing will also give teachers plenty of time to implement the new curriculum and new national qualifications.
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Phases 1-4 of the curriculum will be released in October this year. We encourage use of the new curriculum for Year 9 students in 2026 as these are the students who are progressing towards participation in the potential new Foundational Award in 2028 and new qualifications in 2029 and 2030. It’s important that changes to the curriculum and the qualifications are aligned – so that students are being taught and assessed under either the current curriculum and NCEA, or the new curriculum and qualifications.
There will be plenty of lead-in time before changes to the qualifications are made. I want you to know we have thought carefully about this, so you and your teams are prepared with the PLD and resources you need. The discussion document contains a clear timeline of the proposed staged implementation plan.
Next steps
I understand that your priority will be supporting your staff and students to understand these proposed changes. I have asked the Ministry to ensure that they provide a summary that could be included in a newsletter or bulletin to assist with any same day communications you may wish to provide.
I want to ensure that we make it clear to all students and parents that NCEA is still a good qualification. New Zealand students with NCEA qualifications have gone on to experience success on the global stage and the work that they are doing towards this qualification currently is valuable and important. I also want to make clear that we will continue to strengthen the provision of NCEA, adopting feedback that the sector has provided.
Having a New Zealand Curriculum and a New Zealand secondary qualification that we can all proudly stand behind is important. Your feedback is hugely valued and vital part of the process.
What you can do
Consultation is open until 15 September 2025. The proposed rollout of the new qualifications is 2028–2030, aligned with the updated curriculum.
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Share the consultation with your staff and community.
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Questions? Email: NCEAconsultation@education.govt.nz
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The Ministry will be leading webinars and will be sharing details in due course.
Thank you for your leadership and for everything you do for our young people.
Ngā mihi,
Hon Erica Stanford
Minister of Education
