The Education Minister says the education system "is being gamed" as the government proposes replacing all levels of NCEA.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford made the announcement in Auckland on Monday morning.
Under the proposal, NCEA level 1 would be replaced with foundation literacy and numeracy tests.
Levels 2 and 3 would be replaced with a New Zealand Certificate of Education and an Advanced Certificate.
Students would be required to take five subjects and pass at least four to get each certificate.
Marking would be out of 100 and grades would and range from A to E.
Speaking to Nine to Noon, Stanford said there was "too much credit counting" with NCEA.
"I can see the system is being gamed... Credits are being used to get students across the line, like participating in a group activity or filling out a form.
"The Previous Labour government changed level one but nothing has changed, students are still pulling together an ad-hoc range of credits..."
Education Minister Erica Stanford and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announce changes to NCEA. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
There were a couple of things from NCEA Stanford said the government did want to carry over into the new system including not measuring students against each other, but against a standard.
She also wanted a "good, coherent" package of learning that would be linked to industry.
The changes would be phased in from next year, with the foundation award replacing level one from 2028. The new certificates would be in place for year 12 from 2029 and year 13 the following year.
Luxon said evidence showed NCEA was inconsistent and did not always deliver what students needed.
Consultation on the proposal begins next month.
The proposal includes:
- Removing NCEA Level 1, requiring students to take English and Mathematics at Year 11, and sit a foundation award (test) in numeracy and literacy
- Replacing NCEA Levels 2 and 3 with two new qualifications (The New Zealand Certificate of Education at Year 12 and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education at Year 13)
- Requiring students to take five subjects and pass at least four to attain each certificate
- Marking clearly out of 100 with grades that make sense to parents like A, B, C, D, E
- Working with industry to develop better vocational pathways so students are getting the skills relevant to certain career pathways
- The new qualification will be underpinned by a new national curriculum for Years 9-13 that will clearly outline what students need to learn in each subject and when, providing more consistency.
'"This is about making sure our national qualification opens doors for every young person, whether they're heading into a trade, university, or straight into work," Stanford said.
The government's decision is a sharp reversal of the previous government's 2018/19 decision to overhaul and retain level 1 because some schools wanted it either as a stepping stone to level 2 or as a base qualification for the nine percent of students for whom it would be their highest school qualification.
The Education Ministry said it spent $157.6m from July 2021 to October 2024 on setup and initial consultation for the NCEA Change Programme and work, the full development of level one of NCEA, and the majority of the level two development until it was paused.
NCEA level 1 was the only qualification held by about nine percent of school leavers in most years of the past decade.
The Education Review Office last year reported the newly-revised level 1 needed another overhaul or should be scrappped.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
