School Subject Enrolment

This index page provides links to data on subjects being studied by secondary school students, and on language learning (other than English or Te Reo Māori) by students in New Zealand primary schools.

Secondary School Subjects (Year 9 and Above)

As part of the July Roll returns the Ministry collects data on subjects that students study any time during the school year. Students are counted if he or she studies a subject for more than 20 hours over the year. Currently enrolment numbers are collected for 99 different subjects which fall under the following eight learning areas:

  • Language and Languages / Nga Reo
  • Mathematics / Pangarau
  • Science / Putaio
  • Technology / Hangarau
  • Visual and Performing Arts / Nga Toi
  • Social Sciences / Tikanga-a-iwi
  • Health & Physical Education / Hauora
  • Other Subjects

Pivot Table: Secondary Subject Enrolments Updated: Oct-2021

This spreadsheet allows you to create your tables by any combination of variables.  It has the option of displaying number of students by subject, year level, and student gender, by school, school type variables (such as decile or affiliation), and regional type variables.

Please note: use of this spreadsheet requires MS Excel version 2007 or later.

Primary School Languages (Years 1 to 8)

From 2017, the Ministry no longer publishes this data as it is incomplete. The partial data may be available on request by contacting Requests EDK mailbox.

The Ministry collects data on the number of students at primary year levels who receive language tuition (other than English or Te Reo Māori). If a language was taught on a rotational basis (e.g. term by term), schools are asked to estimate the total number of students in each category who will receive language instruction during the school year.

Information was collected about the following languages:

  • Pacific Island Languages: Samoan, Cook Island Māori, Tongan, Niue, Fijian, Tokelauan, Other Pacific Is.
  • European Languages: French, German, Spanish, Russian
  • Asian Languages: Japanese, Chinese Languages, Indonesian
  • Others: Other Languages

Primary Languages 2000-2017