Young people are increasingly making a last-ditch effort to get NCEA and University Entrance by completing NCEA standards in the summer holidays.
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More than 1200 students enrolled in this year's summer school at Te Kura, the Correspondence School, and Qualifications Authority figures show a record 110,462 NCEA credits were reported in January and February last year.
Chief executive of Te Kura, Mike Hollings, said its summer school enrolments had jumped to 1238 this year from 746 in the 2016/17 summer period.
Students enrolled for a variety of reasons, he said.
"Many are wanting UE, but many also are just a few credits short in a particular subject area, or they didn't quite make the required number of standards in their particular level of NCEA, and there are also other students who want to start earlier and get their NCEA finished earlier in the year," Mr Hollings said.
English, maths and biology standards were the most commonly attempted standards, he said.
Qualifications Authority figures requested by RNZ showed 110,462 credits were reported in January and February 2017, 40,000 more than the previous year and more than the previous high of 104,493 in 2014.
The credits were achieved by 12,740 students, a figure similar to previous years but lower than 2014's 13,769.
President of the Secondary Principals Association, Mike Williams, said it was not clear why more standards were being completed during the school holidays, but it was not a bad thing.
"There must be more awareness of it or more need for it. But maybe it's just we're starting to mature a bit more and realise that's no big deal, that's good if you want to come back and you're really motivated and you want to achieve what you need," he said.
Mr Williams said getting an NCEA certificate could have a huge impact on students, especially at level one.
"Students who fall a little bit short of the bar, getting those few extra credits is a significant change for them," he said.
"They go from 78 credits, failed NCEA, self-belief goes down, to getting a couple of credits, suddenly you're a successful person, you've passed NCEA, everyone's happy at home. It's surprising the impact that it can have."
What are students doing?
Young people wrote CVs and interpreted written texts in order to gain their final NCEA standards in the 2016/17 summer holidays.
Figures provided by the Qualifications Authority showed Work and Study Skills standards were the most widely used at level 1 of the NCEA, with 131 schools reporting 3535 credits for 619 students in January and February 2017.
Commonly reported Work and Study Skills standards included 'Produce a CV', 'Write to communicate ideas for a purpose', and 'Interpret statistics for a purpose'.
At level 2, English Written Language was the most commonly-reported domain followed by Physical Education, Building Construction and Allied Trades Skills, and Visitor Services.
At level 3, the most commonly reported domains in terms of the number of credits reported in January and February were English Written Language, Statistics, Travel, Occupational Health and Safety Practice, Physical Education, and Interpersonal Communication.
The Qualifications Authority said credits reported in January and February might have been completed by students in December and January and been reported late because they were overlooked by a school, or had been assessed by providers outside of a school.
