NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) is the main qualification for secondary school students in NZ and is awarded at three levels; 1, 2 and 3.
NOTE: In 2025 Year 11 will undertake the well-established Year 11 Rangitoto Diploma in place of the Level 1 NCEA.

From January 2024, NCEA implemented the changes outlined below:

• NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3 become 60-credit qualifications

• To be awarded any level of NCEA, learners will need to achieve the new 20-credit co-requisite. This is an online test.

• Credits used towards the co-requisite cannot be used towards the 60-credit NCEA. Essentially, the number of credits required to gain each level of NCEA remains the same, with the literacy and numeracy requirements separated out into a ‘one-off’ co-requisite.

• During 2024 and 2025, learners will be able to meet the 20-credit co-requisite through achieving (via online testing) either the new standards in Literacy-Writing, Literacy-Reading, Numeracy, Te Reo Matatini, and Pāngarau or gaining 20 credits from a small list of literacy and numeracy-rich standards.

• Course and certificate endorsement requirements also remain the same. Students will be required to gain 14 or more credits in a course at Achieved, Merit or Excellence (including at least 3 external and 3 internal credits) to gain a course endorsement. Certificate endorsement continues to require 50 or more credits at Merit or Excellence level.