Proposed Changes

Monday, 4th August 2025 at 3:00pm

As many of you will be aware, there was an announcement today from Erica Stanford, Minister of Education, about changes to our national qualification.

Today’s announcement proposed the following;

• Removing NCEA Level 1 and introducing a new Foundational Award
• Introducing new qualifications at Years 12 and 13 which would replace NCEA Levels 2 and 3
• Working with industry to integrate Vocational Education and Training (VET) subjects into the senior secondary qualification
• Shifting focus to a structured subject approach and introducing compulsory subjects in the curriculum Strengthening achievement requirements

Having heard about the proposed changes this morning, we now need to do further work to fully understand them. While the temptation is always there to take a position, understanding the detail is going to be essential. The other important thing that we’ll be doing is encouraging students who are currently working towards their NCEA qualifications to keep up their hard work as they approach exams and move into the business end of the school year.

Consultation is open on the new proposals from today until 15th September, 2025. The proposed rollout of the new qualifications is 2028-2030, aligned with the phasing in of an updated curriculum. I have included a document HERE for parents from the Ministry of Education which gives you more information about the proposed changes and a way to share your thoughts and ideas.

Have a great week.

Fiona Barker PRINCIPAL