More students leaving school with NCEA Level 2

The number of students leaving school with an NCEA Level 2 qualification has seen a significant increase across the board in 2013, says Education Minister Hekia Parata.

The provisional results for 2013 show that 76.8 per cent of students left school with at least NCEA Level 2, compared with just over 74.3 per cent in 2012.

That’s an increase of 10.3 percentage points since 2008.

“These results are outstanding and reflect the great work being done in our schools to raise student achievement – particularly amongst our Māori and Pasifika students, where there has been a lift of 4 percentage points and 7 percentage points respectively,” Ms Parata says.

Last year:

• 58.6 per cent of Māori students left school with at least NCEA level 2, up from  54.6 per cent in 2012 and 44.4 per cent in 2008
• 71.8 per cent of Pasifika students left school with at least NCEA Level 2, up from 64.8 per cent in 2012 and 55.3 per cent in 2008.
• Overall 76.8 per cent of students left school with at least NCEA Level 2, up from 74.3 per cent in 2012 and 66.5 per cent in 2008.

“That’s almost 1,000 more Māori and Pasifika students who now have better choices,” Ms Parata says.

“These results show the targeted approach our Government is taking to education is the right one and that the valuable workshops on how to create a meaningful qualification are also making a significant contribution to good choices.

“It is particularly pleasing that this also reflects a rise in the quality of qualification since unit standards were replaced by achievement standards in 2009.

“Over the past five years we’ve focused on collecting data from across the whole education system so we can see how it’s performing at every level and where we need to target resources.

“It has helped us identify which students need what kind of support through programmes such as Pasifika Power Up, Youth Guarantee, Achievement 2013-17, and Trade Academies.

“As part of our Better Public Service Targets, we are focussed on 85 per cent of all 18 year-olds achieving NCEA Level 2 or an equivalent qualification in 2017. This target has encouraged schools and their communities to set their own targets and work towards achieving them.

“While these results are great, it is important now that parents, schools and local communities keep up this momentum so that even more young people can succeed at school,” Ms Parata says.

Notes:

Percentage of school leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above