Domestic students enrolled in ITE for the first time

This initial teacher education (ITE) statistics page gives an overview of trends in the number of students enrolling in and completing initial teacher education qualifications that may lead to registration by the New Zealand Teaching Council.

Domestic students enrolled in ITE for the first time

Overall trends (see figures 1 and 2) Last updated: May 2026

Overall

The number of domestic students enrolling in an ITE qualification for the first time increased from 3,600 in 2024 to 4,290 in 2025 (an increase of 19% or 690 students). When looking at the indicative teaching sector this was the result of:

  • a decrease in ECE ITE from 1,225 students in 2024 to 1,175 students in 2025 (a decrease of 4.1% or 50 students)
  • an increase in primary ITE from 1,500 students in 2024 to 1,990 students in 2025 (an increase of 33% or 490 students), and
  • an increase in secondary ITE from 875 students in 2024 to 1,105 students in 2025 (an increase of 26% or 230 students).

Between 2024 and 2025 there was an increase of 71% in first-time Māori medium ITE students which represented an increase of 125 students (these students are already included in the sector data above).

After the large COVID-19 related increase in domestic first-time ITE students in 2021, the border reopening and low unemployment likely contributed to the decrease in ITE students in 2022 and 2023. There was a modest increase in the number of students across all teaching sectors in 2024. In 2025, there were significant increases in students in primary and secondary ITE, while ECE ITE decreased slightly.

Figure 1: Number of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by indicative teaching sector

Figure 1: Number of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by indicative teaching sector

Note: where students enrol in or complete an ITE qualification which prepares them to teach in more than one sector, we report them in each of these sectors.

Table 1: Number of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by indicative teaching sector

Notes:

  1. Data relates to students enrolled at any time during the year with a tertiary education provider in formal qualifications of greater than 0.03 EFTS (more than one week's full-time duration).
  2. Where students enrol in an ITE qualification which allows them to teach in more than one sector, we have reported them in each of these sectors. So the sum of the various teaching sectors may not add to the total.
  3. Students may enrol in more than one ITE qualification over time. In this data, we identify students who enrol in an ITE qualification for the very first time in that year.
  4. In some cases, sector of qualification has been derived from the courses studied by a student and so should be seen as indicative only.
  5. Where sector of study has not been able to be determined, students have been placed in the "Unknown" category.
  6. Data in this table has been revised and may differ from previously published figures.
  7. Data in this table, including totals, have been rounded to the nearest 5, so the sum of individual counts may not add to the total.

Indicative
teaching sector

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

ECE

2,025

2,085

2,200

2,420

2,980

2,880

2,260

2,115

1,805

1,570

1,405

1,255

1,240

1,315

1,440

1,355

1,655

1,425

1,140

1,225

1,175

Primary

2,495

2,380

2,455

2,160

2,565

2,785

2,230

2,375

2,025

1,840

1,885

1,755

1,770

2,055

2,025

1,920

2,405

1,765

1,420

1,500

1,990

Secondary

1,450

1,330

1,305

1,135

1,400

1,370

1,145

1,165

1,045

970

895

810

900

905

875

890

1,155

850

800

875

1,105

Unknown

65

40

55

85

65

45

35

30

20

20

15

15

10

30

10

10

35

15

35

10

45

Total

5,620

5,490

5,710

5,660

6,810

6,830

5,530

5,590

4,825

4,360

4,165

3,830

3,915

4,300

4,345

4,170

5,235

4,045

3,395

3,600

4,290

ECE

Following a modest increase in 2024, the number of first-time ECE students decreased in 2025. This decrease pushed enrolments down to 1,175 in 2025, which was still above the low point of 1,140 in 2023.

Primary

The number of first-time domestic primary students increased significantly in 2025. This has pushed primary enrolments back up to levels seen in the years immediately prior to COVID. In 2025, primary ITE student numbers (1,990) were significantly higher than the low point of 1,420 in 2023.

Secondary

Secondary ITE numbers increased significantly in 2025. As a result, the number of secondary domestic first-time ITE students reached 1,105 in 2025. This represented just the second time that secondary ITE numbers breached the 1,000 mark since 2013, the other being during the COVID related surge in participation in 2021.

Māori medium

In 2025, the number of first-time ITE Māori medium students increased by 71% to reach 300. This is the third year in a row that student numbers increased.

The vast majority of Māori medium first-time ITE students were enrolled in programmes at the primary sector level. In 2025, 78% of first-time students were enrolled in primary programmes.

Domestic students enrolled in Māori medium ITE qualifications

Figure 2: Number of students enrolling in Māori medium ITE qualifications who were enrolling in ITE for the first time, by indicative teaching sector

Figure 2: Number of students enrolling in Māori medium ITE qualifications who were enrolling in ITE for the first time, by indicative teaching sector

Demographic characteristics (see figures 3-5)

In 2025, 73% of first time domestic ECE students were aged under 35. This proportion peaked with 80% aged under 35 in 2017 and has been as low as 64% in 2009. In the primary sector, the proportion of first-time students aged under 35 remained unchanged at 77% in 2025. In the secondary sector, the proportion of first-time students aged under 35 was 65% in 2024, down from a peak of 83% in 2015.

First-time students in the ECE sector were almost exclusively women (97% in 2025), with lower proportions of women in the primary (82% in 2025) and secondary sectors (56% in 2025). The gap in participation between men and women has been gradually falling over time in secondary ITE. The gap halved from 29 percentage points in 2006 to 13 percentage points in 2025. The proportions in the other teaching sectors have not changed significantly in recent years.

The proportion of first-time domestic students who were Māori increased in all teaching sectors between 2024 and 2025. In 2025, 18% of ECE first-time students were Māori compared with 15% in 2024. The proportion of primary ITE students who were Māori increased slightly from 26% in 2024 to 27% in 2025. This represented the highest proportion of Māori students between 2005 and 2025. In the secondary sector, the proportion of first-time students who were Māori was 17% in 2025, up from 13% in 2024.

The low number of first-time students who are Pacific Peoples makes identifying trends difficult. But, in the ECE sector, the proportion of first-time students has decreased slightly from 9.8% in 2024 to 9.4% in 2025. The proportion in secondary ITE also decreased, from 10% in 2024 to 8.6% in 2025. In the primary sector, the proportion of Pacific Peoples increased from 11% in 2024 to 13% in 2025. This represented the highest proportion of Pacific Peoples students between 2005 and 2025.

The proportion of first-time ITE students who are Asian has been rising in recent years, especially in the ECE and secondary teaching sectors. In 2025, the proportion of Asian students in ECE ITE was 19%, compared with 8.5% in 2017. In secondary ITE, the proportion of Asian students was 6.7% in 2014 and has now more than doubled to 18% in 2025.

Figure 3: Age distribution of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by indicative teaching sector

Figure 3: Age distribution of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by indicative teaching sector

Figure 4: Gender distribution of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by indicative teaching sector

Figure 4: Gender distribution of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by indicative teaching sector

Figure 5: Ethnic group distribution of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by indicative teaching sector

Figure 5: Ethnic group distribution of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by indicative teaching sector

Study-related characteristics (see figures 6 and 7)

The majority of first-time students in the ECE and primary sectors study at the bachelors degree level. In 2025, 75% of ECE students and 63% of primary students were enrolled in bachelors degrees. Although this proportion has remained relatively stable for primary sector over recent years, the ECE sector has shown more variation with 2025 data representing the highest proportion over the last four years. In the secondary sector, bachelors degree provision has decreased in recent years so that now first-time students are almost all enrolled at the graduate diploma, postgraduate diploma, and masters degree level.

Since the last of the colleges of education (CoEs) were merged with them in the mid-2000s, universities have dominated first-time ITE student provision in the primary and secondary teaching sectors. In 2025, 69% of primary sector students and 75% of secondary sector students were studying at universities. However, the universities share of these students has been decreasing in recent years. In the ECE sector private training establishments (PTEs) have the largest proportion of first-time students in 2025 (59%) followed by polytechnics (23%) and universities (17%).

In 2025, 40% of first-time ECE students studied on an extramural basis, compared with 32% of primary sector students and 40% of secondary sector students.

In 2025, the vast majority of first-time primary sector students (90%) and secondary sector students (85%) were studying full-time, compared with 75% in the ECE sector.

In line with the increase in ITE students seen at the national level, in 2025 the number of first-time domestic ITE students also increased in Auckland, the Rest of the North Island, and the South Island. The data shows that the fastest rate of increase in students was in the Rest of the North Island (up 24%) followed by the South Island (up 21%), while Auckland students increased by 13%.

Figure 6: Distribution of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by qualification type and indicative teaching sector

Figure 6: Distribution of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by qualification type and indicative teaching sector

Figure 7: Distribution of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by sub-sector and indicative teaching sector

Figure 7: Distribution of domestic students enrolling in ITE for the first time by sub-sector and indicative teaching sector

International students enrolled in ITE for the first time

The number of first-time international students increased from 1,185 in 2024 to 1,415 in 2025. In 2025, 65% of first-time international students were enrolled in an ECE qualification.