NCEA Changes: A student's perspective
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Government's NCEA Reforms Vindicate Decade Of Education Research
Wellington (Monday, 4 August 2025) – The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the Government's announcement to replace NCEA with a more rigorous qualification system, marking a crucial turning point for New Zealand education. The proposed reforms – including compulsory English and Mathematics at Year 11, structured subject requirements and clearer A-E grading – directly address the fundamental flaws The New Zealand Initiative has identified through years of research. 'This is precisely the overhaul we've been calling for,' said Dr Michael Johnston, Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative. 'NCEA's excessive flexibility has become its fatal weakness, allowing students to game the system rather than master essential knowledge.' The Government's move to introduce a knowledge-rich national curriculum aligns perfectly with the Initiative's longstanding advocacy for education. Since 2018, the Initiative has documented how NCEA's credit accumulation model encourages superficial learning at the expense of deep subject mastery. 'When students can cherry-pick easy standards to accumulate credits, we shouldn't be surprised that employers find school leavers lack basic skills,' Dr Johnston said. 'The new five-subject structure will ensure students develop coherent knowledge rather than collecting disconnected fragments.' The Initiative particularly applauds the commitment to develop better vocational pathways in partnership with industry. This directly implements recommendations from the Initiative's recent research showing that fragmented vocational programmes have failed to provide clear alternatives to university. 'Schools have been overwhelmingly biased towards academic pathways, even though only a third of students pursue degrees,' Dr Johnston said. 'Creating industry-designed vocational pathways with equal status to academic routes is essential for serving all students, not just the university-bound.' The proposed A-E grading system will provide the transparency parents and employers have long sought, replacing NCEA's opaque achievement levels with internationally understood standards. 'These reforms represent a victory for quality over mediocrity,' Dr Johnston said. 'Now the hard work begins – implementing these changes effectively will determine whether New Zealand can finally reverse two decades of educational decline.' About The New Zealand Initiative The New Zealand Initiative is an evidence-based think tank and research institute contributing to public policy discussion. Supported by the nation's leading visionaries, business leaders and political thinkers, we are committed to making New Zealand a better country for all its citizens with a world-class education system, affordable housing, a healthy environment, sound public finances and a stable currency.
RNZ News
5 hours ago
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The 'right to choose' key to the Cook Islands-NZ relationship
Foreign Minister Winston Peters with Minister for Pacific Peoples Shane Reti celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Cook Islands constitution in Tāmaki Makaurau. Photo: RNZ / Teuila Fuatai New Zealand's foreign minister says Cook Islanders are free to choose whether their country continues in free association with New Zealand. Winston Peters made the comment at a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the constitution of the Cook Islands in Auckland today. Peters attended the community event hosted by the Upokina Taoro (East Cook Island Community Group) as part of an official contingent of MPs. Minister for Pacific Peoples Shane Reti and Labour Party deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni also attended. "We may not be perfect, but we've never wavered from our responsibilities wherever they lay," Peters said. "For six decades, we have stood by ready to support the Cook Islands economic and social development, while never losing sight of the fact that our financial support comes from the taxes of hard working New Zealanders," This week's anniversary comes at a time of increasing tension between the two nations. At the heart of that are four agreements between the Cook Islands and China, which Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown signed in February. The New Zealand government said it should have been consulted over the agreements, but Brown disagreed. The diplomatic disagreement has resulted in New Zealand halting $18.2 million in funding to the Cook Islands, which is a realm country of New Zealand. Under that arrangement - implemented in 1965 - the country governs its own affairs, but New Zealand provides some assistance with foreign affairs, disaster relief and defence. Peters today said the "beating heart" of the Cook Islands-New Zealand relationship was the "right to choose". "Cook Islanders are free to choose where to live, how to live, and to worship whichever God they wish." After his formal address, Peters was asked by media about the rift between the governments of the Cooks Islands and New Zealand. He referred back to his "carefully crafted" speech which he said showed "precisely what the New Zealand position is now". Brown has previously said that if New Zealand could not afford to fund the country's national infrastructure investment plan - billed at $650 million - the Cook Islands would need to look elsewhere. Brown also said in at the time that funding the development needs of the Cook Islands was a major motivator in signing the agreements with China. Discussions between officials from both countries regarding the diplomatic disagreement were ongoing. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
5 hours ago
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The Panel with Sarah Perriam-Lampp and Peter Dunne Part 1
Tonight, on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Sarah Perriam-Lampp and Peter Dunne . To begin: the NCEA annoucnment from the government sees Erica Stanford and Christopher Luxon proposing to abolish and replace NCEA. They also discuss the government's plans to revise the Conservation Act which includes charging international visitors $20-40 dollars to access four popular sites - Cathedral Cove, the Tongariro Crossing, Milford Sound and Aoraki Mount Cook. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
