NCEANATIONAL CERTIFICATE OF

EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

NCEA• NCEA Level One replaced School

Certificate• NCEA Level Two replaced Sixth Form

Certificate• NCEA Level Three replaced Bursary

ACHIEVEMENT BASED ASSESSMENT

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

CREDITS

• 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.

ASSESSMENT• Assessment may be INTERNAL• Set and assessed by teachers

within the school. OR• EXTERNAL• Set and assessed by NZQA

Types of Standards• Achievement Standards

• Unit Standards

ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS• 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.

UNIT STANDARDS• 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

LEVEL ONE• 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

Literacy Requirements• 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.

Numeracy Requirements• 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.

LEVEL TWO• 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

LEVEL THREE• 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.

CREDITS ARE NEVER USED UP

LEVEL ONE

LEVEL TWO L EVEL THREE80 Level

One

Credits

ENTRANCE TO UNIVERSITY• 42 credits at LEVEL 3

14 from one Approvedsubject

14 from one Approvedsubject

14 from Another

Approvedsubject

+ +

Individual University Requirements

• NZQA has been reviewing these requirements and changes will be introduced.

• Many universities have differing requirements.

UNIVERSITY LITERACY AND NUMERACY

• 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.

ENDORSEMENT

• 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

COURSE ENDORSMENT

• 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

SCHOLARSHIP

• 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.

MODERATION

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

INTERNAL MODERATION

• 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.

FEES

• $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.

LEAVE

• 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.

FURTHER ASSESSMENTOPPORTUNITIES

• We endeavour to provide a further assessment opportunity for most standards.

• In some cases this may not be feasible.

Re submission and Further Assessment Opportunities

• Students may have only one resubmission and one further assessment opportunity.

• This means it is important they get it right first time.

Curriculum 5 and Above

• 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.

Parent Portal

• 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

QUESTIONS?

• WWW.nzqa.govt.nz