Last updated: May 2026

Overview of attainment for Pathways from Year 11

Table 1 shows the latest results for Pathways from Year 11. By the end of 2024:

• For the cohort who entered Year 11 in 2023, 71.5% attained a Level 2 certificate or above 2 years after starting Year 11. This is an increase from 70.8% for the 2022 cohort.
• For the cohort who entered Year 11 in 2021, by the end of 4 years, 80.1% of this cohort attained a Level 2 certificate or above. This is a decrease from 82.7% for the 2020 cohort.

Figure 1 shows the proportion of learners achieving a Level 2 certificate or above for cohorts entering Year 11 from 2009 to 2023.

• Attainment after 4 years rose steadily from 77.9% for the 2009 cohort to a high of 87.3% for the 2015 cohort. This was mainly driven by increases in learners completing a Level 2 certificate or above within 2 years of starting Year 11. Attainment rates for the 4-year time point remained relatively high and were above 84.0% up to 2019 before declining to 80.1% for 2021 cohort.
• The 2-year attainment rate reached a high of 77.8% in 2019, declined to 70.8% by 2022 and then saw a small increase in 2023 (71.5%). The 2-year attainment rate has increased by 11.8 percentage points overall from 59.7% for the 2009 cohort to 71.5% for the 2023 cohort, showing long-term improvement.

Figure 1: Attainment rates for Level 2 certificate or above, 2009-2023 cohorts

Indicator

A Level 2 certificate is important because it opens pathways to further education, training or entry into the labour-market. Most learners will meet this requirement through the attainment of NCEA Level 2 which is designed to provide the basic knowledge and skills required for employment.

Achieving a Level 2 certificate is associated with higher future earnings. Modelling done by the Ministry in 2024 of earnings at age 30 showed income premiums for those attaining a Level 2 qualification, Level 3 qualification and for meeting the requirements for UE.¹ The findings from the modelling were also consistent with other Ministry research showing adults with no qualifications earned almost 20% less in weekly income and around 12% less in hourly earnings than those with school qualifications.² For a summary of the attainment of Level 2 certificate or above by tracked Year 11 cohort, please read the indicator:

Time series data

These spreadsheets provide numbers and percentages of learners with a Level 2 certificate or above for Year 11 cohorts across time in a simple, easy to use format.

Pathways from Year 11 data technical notes

The measure

Inclusive and exclusive criteria

• In 2024, attainment rates for Level 2 certificate or above reported for Pathways from Year 11 at the end of 2 years is for learners who entered Year 11 for the first time in 2023.
• In 2024, attainment rates for Level 2 certificate or above reported for Pathways from Year 11 at the end of 4 years is for learners who entered Year 11 for the first time in 2021.
• Learners who enter Year 11 with a Level 2 or above certificate are excluded from the base population.

Learners counted are:

• Domestic learners who were aged less than 19 in their first enrolment in ENROL.
• Learners is their first enrolment in Year 11.

Definitions and data dimensions

Year that learners entered Year 11

Reporting uses entry into Year 11 to define cohorts for the purpose of tracking participation and attainment in education. This is the first year that learners under 19 years of age enrolled in Year 11. The learners are identified from the enrolment-based measure which is made using administrative data collected by the Ministry of Education and New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).

All demographic data for the learner and school come from the first Year 11 year in the enrolment-based-measure.

Years after entry into Year 11

Attainment is summarised at the end of 2 and 4 years after entry to Year 11.

Years of achievement

This is the year that enrolment and achievements are summarised for.  For example, a learner who has Year 11 Year = 2021, and is reported on 2 years after entering Year 11 has an Achievement Year=2022.  They will also have an Achievement Year=2024 for 4 years after entering Year 11. It can be omitted if you include years after entry to Year 11.

Learner age

The age of the learner (in years) as at 1 July. To protect learner privacy year levels have been grouped, the youngest age will contain any younger learners, "or above" indicates there may be older learners included.

Learners aged less than 19 enrolled in school for all or part of a year, are grouped into Year 11 cohorts using the first year that they were enrolled in Year 11.  Around 95% of learners enrolled in New Zealand schools will be included in the tracked cohorts.  Learners who are not included will have been aged over 19 when they enrolled in Year 11 for the first time, or did not have a year where they were enrolled in Year 11.  A small number of learners were excluded because they had already attained a Level 2 or higher qualification before their first enrolment in Year 11.

Learner gender

The genders of learners, as recorded in New Zealand birth notices.

Learner ethnic group

The ethnic group data is presented at level 1 using total response methodology. That is, learners are counted for each level 1 ethnic group they have indicated they belong to. While each learner may be represented in up to 3 ethnic groups, they are only counted once in the ethnic group "Total".

If not using ethnic group as a field of interest - select as a filter and limit to "Total" only, otherwise learners will be double counted.

Learner language of instruction

Māori Language Learning describes the percentage of time in which Māori language is spoken in the classroom.

In this indicator it is defined by Māori Language Learning levels of the learners in Year 11:

• Predominantly learning in te reo Māori at least 51% of the time. That is, were in Māori Language Learning levels 1 or 2.
• Predominantly learning in English. That is, were in Māori Language Learning levels 3 – 6, or with no Māori language in education.

Māori language immersion levels:

• Level 1: 81-100%: Curriculum is taught in Māori for more than 20 and up to 25 hours a week.
• Level 2: 51-80%: Curriculum is taught in Māori for more than 12.5 and up to 20 hours a week.
• Level 3: 31-50%: Curriculum is taught in Māori for more than 7.5 and up to 12.5 hours a week.
• Level 4(a): 12-30%: Curriculum is taught in Māori for more than 3 and up to 7.5 hours a week.
• Level 4(b): At least 3 hours: Learners are learning Te Reo Māori as a separate subject for at least 3 hours a week.
• Level 5: Less than 3 hours: Learners are learning Te Reo Māori as a separate subject for less than 3 hours a week.
• Level 6: Taha Māori: Learners learn Māori songs, greetings, and simple words.
• No Māori Language Education: Learners in school roll not recorded at any level of Māori Language Learning.
• Not Applicable: Māori language in Education information is not collected for these learners.

School Equity Index Bands and School Equity Index Groups

School Equity index bands included here are based on Equity Index data for the school attended in learners' first year in Year 11.

From 2023, the Ministry of Education has developed a new method of reporting on socioeconomic trends in education statistics. Two ways of grouping schools into broad socioeconomic categories are being used, School Equity Index Bands and School Equity Index Groups. These categories estimate the extent to which, on average, learners at a school face socioeconomic barriers that could get in the way of their school achievement.

School Equity Index Bands and Groups are derived from the Schooling Equity Index Number. There are 7 School Equity Index Bands, each containing approximately the same number of schools. Schools are placed into a band based on their School Equity Index number. There are 3 School Equity Index Groups formed by collapsing the 7 School Equity Index Bands. More information on this reporting method can be found here.

In order to create a time series, schools that had learners during 2019-2023 are using the School Equity Index Bands and Groups defined using 2023 School Equity Index Numbers.

Decile

The last year decile was calculated was 2022.

Decile values included here are based on decile data for the school attended in learners' first year in Year 11.

Up until 2022, schools were assigned a socioeconomic score based on 5 census derived socioeconomic factors. Schools were then ranked in order of this score and divided into 10 even groups called deciles. Decile 1 schools were the 10% of schools with the greatest proportion of students from the most socio-economically deprived areas. Decile 10 schools were the 10% of schools with the greatest proportion of students from the least socio-economically deprived areas.

Education area

The education area the school of the learner was enrolled with when they were in Year 11 for the first time.

These are 12 administrative regions created by the Ministry of Education and aligned with the Ministry's 10 local offices.  Learners are included in the education region of the last school they were enrolled with in their first year in Year 11. In 2023 the Auckland region was split into 3 education regions, Tāmaki Herenga Tāngata (north and west Auckland), Tāmaki Herenga Manawa (central and east Auckland) and Tāmaki Herenga Waka (south and southwest Auckland).

Not Applicable includes learners attending Te Kura (Correspondence School), homeschooling, learners whose school campus covers more than 1 region and learners with no regional information available.

Regional council

The regional council of the school the learner was enrolled with when they were in Year 11 for the first time.

Regional council boundaries are defined by Statistics New Zealand. Learners counted in Not Applicable where they were enrolled with Te Kura (Correspondence School), homeschooling, a school with a campus in more than 1 region and schools with no regional information available.

Territorial authority

The territorial authority area of the school the learner was enrolled with when they were in Year 11 for the first time.

Territorial authority boundaries are defined by Statistics New Zealand. Please note that Auckland Territorial Authority is further broken down into local board. Learners counted in Not Applicable where they were enrolled with Te Kura (Correspondence School), homeschooling, learners whose school campus covers more than 1 region and learners with no regional information available.