Ins and outs of NCEA

1. NATIONAL CERTIFICATE OF
EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

2. • NCEA Level One replaced School
Certificate
• NCEA Level Two replaced Sixth Form
Certificate
• NCEA Level Three replaced Bursary

3. • NCEA focuses on what students can
do rather than comparing them to
other students.

4. • Credits are a way of showing the
value of an assessment.
• An assessment may be worth 2, 3,4,
5, 6 or even 12 credits depending on
how much work is involved and how
much is being assessed.

5. • Assessment may be INTERNAL
• Set and assessed by teachers
within the school.
OR
• EXTERNAL
• Set and assessed by NZQA

6. • Achievement Standards
• Unit Standards

7. • ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS are assessments
which may be INTERNAL or EXTERNAL and
which allow students to gain EXCELLENCE,
MERIT or ACHIEVEMENT grades.
• Generally the traditionally academic courses will
offer mainly Achievement Standards.

8. • UNIT STANDARDS are assessments which are
INTERNAL only.
• Achievement is usually measured with Achieved
and Not Achieved only.
• Unit standards are used mainly for employment
based subjects

9. • Replaced School Certificate
• Level 6 on the New Zealand Curriculum.
• Is gained by achieving 80 credits at level one or
higher including
• A numeracy requirement
• A literacy requirement

10. • 10 Credits are required.
• There are two ways of gaining these.
• 10 credits from a range of Achievement
Standards across many subjects.
• 10 special Literacy credits at a level lower than
NCEA Level One.

11. • 10 Credits are required.
• There are two ways of gaining these.
• 10 credits from a range of Achievement
Standards across some subjects.
• 10 special Numeracy credits at a level lower
than NCEA Level One.

12. • Replaced 6th form certificate
• Level 7 on the New Zealand Curriculum.
• 80 CREDITS including
• 60 at level two or higher
• 20 at level one or higher

13. • Replaced Bursary
• Level 8 on the New Zealand Curriculum.
• Requires:
• 60 Credits at level 3 or higher.
• And 20 credits at level 2 or higher.

14. LEVEL ONE
LEVEL TWO
L EVEL THREE
80 Level
One
Credits

15. • 42 credits at LEVEL 3
14 from
14 from one 14 from one
+ + Another
Approved Approved
Approved
subject subject
subject

16. • NZQA has been reviewing these requirements
and changes will be introduced.
• Many universities have differing requirements.

17. • 14 Credits in Numeracy at Level One or higher.
• 4 Credits in Reading at Level Two or higher from
a list of specified standards.
• 4 Credits in Writing at Level Two or higher from
a list of specified standards.
• There are changes to this for next year.

18. • Level One ,Two, and Three certificates can all be
gained with either Merit or Excellence
• To gain with Merit at least 50 credits at the
appropriate level must be Merit
• To gain with Excellence at least 50 credits at the
appropriate level must be Excellence

19. • Students are able to have individual courses
endorsed with Merit or Excellence
• To gain a subject with Merit or Excellence a
student must gain 14 credits at the level ( or
higher).
• At least 3 of the credits must be Internal and at
least 3 must be External

20. • External only.
• Students interested in this should talk with their
subject teacher first.
• Awards are made to students who pass
individual subjects and who pass in three
subjects.
• There is a list of scholarship subjects.

21. • Schools submit assessed materials to national
moderators who check to see that the standard
remains the same across the country.

22. • Classes within schools moderate the
assessments to make sure it is fair across the
classes. This may be by having one or two
teachers mark the whole assessment, by check-
marking or by assessing together.

23. • $76.70 at each level (last year’s figures- to be
confirmed this year).
• Includes three scholarship subjects
• Financial Assistance is available for
beneficiaries, community service card holders
and families with more than one child enrolling
for qualifications.

24. • If students are absent from internal
assessments they need either a medical
certificate or a note from home (in cases of
bereavement etc.) In most cases further
assessment opportunities will be available.
Sometimes the student will have missed out.
• Other absences, e.g. school trips, require a
leave form to be completed in advance.

25. • We endeavour to provide a further assessment
opportunity for most standards.
• In some cases this may not be feasible.

26. • Students may have only one resubmission and
one further assessment opportunity.
• This means it is important they get it right first
time.

27. • Year 10 students are given the opportunity to
demonstrate achievement in some unit
standards and achievement standards.
• If they are a Year 10 student they will not be
awarded until Year 11.

28. • As parents and caregivers, you are able to
access online, some information held by the
school concerning your child
• Type of information
• Attendance, Discipline, Results, Fees,
Timetable, Notices and Calendar

31. • WWW.nzqa.govt.nz