Understanding ncea
Courses, Credits and endorsement.
What does it all mean??
What does it all mean??
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the main national qualification for secondary school students in New Zealand.
Each year, students study a number of courses or subjects.
In each subject, skills and knowledge are assessed against a number of standards. A standard details the key knowledge and skills within a given topic or context. It provides clear expectations and requirements for each level of achievement - Achieved, Merit and Excellence.
Schools use a range of internal and external assessments to measure how well students meet these standards.
When a student achieves a standard, they gain a number of credits. Students must achieve a certain number of credits to gain an NCEA certificate. There are three levels of NCEA certificate, depending on the difficulty of the standards achieved. In general, students work through levels 1 to 3 over their school years 11-13.
Credits gained at a higher level can be used for (or count towards) more than one certificate.
The NCEA Curriculum Change Package begins in 2024 Click here for all the details and how ASHS is applying these changes.
Level 1
ASHS has been delivering Level 1 differently since 2022.
All students must gain their Level 1 10cr Literacy and 10cr Numeracy Credits. These may have been achieved through the Corequisite national exams offered in Year 10 or can be completed at ASHS in 2024 through the study of English and Mathematics.
All students will work towards Course Completion in all 5 subjects by completing both NCEA and ASHS assessment work.
Level 2
60 credits at level 2 or above
The Level 1 literacy and numeracy requirements must also be met if not completed in Y10 or Level 1.
All students will work towards Course Completion in all 5 subjects by completing both NCEA and ASHS assessment work.
Level 3
60 credits at level 3 or above
The Level 1 literacy and numeracy requirements must also be met if not completed in Level 1 or Level 2.
All students will work towards Course Completion in all 5 subjects by completing both NCEA and ASHS assessment work.
Literacy & Numeracy - 2024/2025
Literacy requirement
Minimum of 10 credits through either:
Achievement standards - specified assessment standards available through English (2024 course) - (minimum total of 10 credits);
OR
Specified assessment standards - specified assessment standards available through English for Academic Purposes unit standards 22749, 22750 and 22751 (minimum total of 10 credits);
OR
Meeting the requirements through the National Corequisite examination (total of 10 credits).
Numeracy requirement
Minimum of 10 credits through either:
Achievement standards - specified assessment standards available through Mathematics (2024 course) - (minimum total of 10 credits)
OR
Meeting the requirements through the National Corequisite examination (total of 10 credits).
Endorsement of NCEA certificates & courses
Endorsement of NCEA certificates occurs following the release of results in January each year based on credits on a Candidate's New Zealand Record of Achievement at that time.
Where a Candidate qualifies for Excellence or Merit endorsement under paragraphs c. and d. of this Rule 8.4, subject to paragraphs e. and f. of this Rule 8.4, only the highest eligible NCEA Certificate endorsement from the following list will be recognised on the Certificate awarding the NCEA Qualification: NCEA Level 3 Excellence NCEA Level 3 Merit NCEA Level 2 Excellence NCEA Level 2 Merit NCEA Level 1 Excellence NCEA Level 1 Merit.
An Excellence endorsement of an NCEA certificate is issued to Candidates who have achieved 50 or more credits from standards with a grade of Excellence at the same or higher Level as the NCEA Certificate being endorsed.
A Merit endorsement of an NCEA certificate is issued to Candidates who have achieved 50 or more credits from standards with a grade of either Merit or Excellence at the same or higher Level as the NCEA Certificate being endorsed.
Where a Candidate qualifies for an NCEA Certificate at more than one Level in January of a year, each of those Certificates will be checked for endorsement.
A course endorsement is gained at the Level of the lowest standard making up the eligible 14 credits. Subject to the exemptions in paragraph d. of this Rule 8.5, NZQA will grant a Candidate a Course endorsement of:
Excellence where a Candidate achieves 14 or more credits from standards within the Course with a grade of Excellence, including at least three of those credits from internal standards and three of those credits from external standards:
Merit where a Candidate achieves 14 or more credits from the assessment within the Course at Merit or Excellence, including at least three of those credits from internal standards and three of those credits from external standards.
Scholarship
Scholarship is a monetary award to recognise top secondary school students. Scholarship exams are externally assessed and are an additional set of exams. They do not attract credits, nor contribute towards a qualification, but the fact that a student has gained a Scholarship appears on their Record of Achievement.