What is NCEA?
NCEA stands for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement. It is available at Levels 1, 2 and 3.
NCEA is the main national qualification for secondary school students/ākonga in New Zealand.
NCEA Level 1 is optional but works alongside the New Zealand Curriculum, providing students with a solid foundation of skills and knowledge they can build on.
NCEA Level 2 is the minimum qualification needed for some jobs and tertiary programmes.
NCEA Level 3 prepares students for study towards tertiary qualifications. To go from school directly into university or degree level study, students will need University Entrance (UE). One of the requirements for UE is NCEA Level 3.
Level 1 of NCEA is mostly completed by Year 11 students, progressing to Level 2 in Year 12, and Level 3 in Year 13. It’s not unusual to study at a mix of different levels. For example, someone might be doing mostly Level 2 courses, but start something new at Level 1, or study a course at Level 3 because they are good at it.
Students don’t have to finish one level of NCEA before starting to work towards the next one. For example, some Level 1 students will not gain their full 60 credits in Year 11, but will automatically gain Level 1 as their Level 2 NCEA credits will count down towards Level 1.
Would you like to know more?
NCEA me te Whānau (free NCEA workshop for Māori students, families and communities)
NCEA ma le Pasifika (free NCEA workshop for Pacfic students, families and communities)