School leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above

Indicator Description

Percentage of school leavers with an NCEA Level 2 qualification or above.

What We Have Found

Seventy-one percent of school leavers achieved NCEA Level 2 or above in 2008, a 34% increase from 2003.

Why This Is Important

A formal school qualification is a measure of the extent to which young adults have completed a basic prerequisite for higher education and training and many entry-level jobs.  The main qualification available to secondary school students is the NCEA, which encompasses a wide range of learning.  NCEA enables students to undertake multilevel study to attain credits, perhaps at different levels in any one year, towards an NCEA qualification.  Students can attain credits through internal and external assessment, and they can accumulate these credits both within and across years.  Educational and job prospects will be limited for those who leave school without Level 2 NCEA.

The attainment of an upper secondary school qualification is linked to labour force status and incomes.  In 2007 New Zealanders with no qualifications had an unemployment rate over 53% higher than those whose highest qualification was a school qualification (OECD 2009).

How We Are Going

In 2008, 70.7% of school leavers attained at least NCEA Level 2, a 34% increase from 2003.  Over sixty percent of leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above also achieved a university entrance standard.

Girls performed better than boys, with 75.8% attaining at least NCEA Level 2 compared to 65.7% of boys.

Asian students had the highest proportion of school leavers attaining at least NCEA Level 2 in 2008 (85.2%), followed by European/Pākehā (75.1%).  There is a substantial gap between the proportion of Pasifika (62.9%) and Māori (50.4%) school leavers to attaining at least NCEA Level 2.  However, relatively higher rates of improvement for Pasifika and Māori since 2003 imply that the disparities between ethnic groups are reducing.

Percentage of school leavers with an NCEA Level 2 qualification or above, by ethnic group (2003 to 2008)

1. Due to methodological changes in the allocation of attainment levels in 2004, for leavers achieving a qualification between little or no formal attainment and UE standard, the percentages of leavers with at least NCEA Level 2 in 2004 are not comparable with other years, and has been omitted.
   

The gap between the proportion of Pasifika and non-Pasifika school leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above is closing.  In 2003, Non-Pasifika school leavers were 26% more likely to obtain NCEA Level 2 or above than Pasifika school leavers compared to 14% more likely in 2008.

Similarly, the gap between the proportion of Māori and non- Māori school leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above is also closing.  In 2003, Non-Māori school leavers were twice as likely to obtain NCEA Level 2 or above as Māori school leavers compared to 49% more likely in 2008.

A clear positive correlation can be seen between the socio-economic mix of the school the student attended and the percentage of school leavers attaining at least an NCEA Level 2 qualification.  Schools in the lowest deciles (deciles 1 and 2) draw their students from communities with the highest degree of socio-economic disadvantage.

Percentage of school leavers with NCEA Level 2 and above, by school decile and school (2008)

Note: only includes schools with more than 75 or more school leavers.

In 2008, 85.1% of students from schools in the highest deciles (deciles 9 and 10) left school with at least an NCEA Level 2 qualification.  This was 57% higher than the percentage of the lowest two deciles (54.3%).  This gap has narrowed since 2006 when students from schools in the highest quintile were almost twice as likely to leave school with at least an NCEA Level 2 qualification, compared to students from schools in the lowest deciles.

There is a large variation in the percentage of school leavers attaining at least an NCEA Level 2 amongst schools within each decile.

Where to Find Out More

To obtain other information about school leavers consider indicators:

• School leavers with NCEA Level 1 or above
• School leavers with a university entrance standard
• School leavers entering tertiary education

The Ministry of Education has established an Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme to systematically identify, evaluate, analyse, synthesise and make accessible, relevant evidence linked to a range of learner outcomes. Evidence about what works for this indicator can be found in:

• Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis
• Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics/Pangarau: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration

References

Alton-Lee, A. (2003). Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis. Wellington, Ministry of Education.

Anthony, G., and Walshaw, M. (2007). Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics/Pangarau: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

OECD (2009). Education at a Glance: OECD indicators 2009. Paris, OECD.