Students leaving school with higher qualifications   27 Sep 2012

Hon Hekia Parata
Minister of Education

27 September 2012 Media Statement

Students leaving school with higher qualifications

Education Minister Hekia Parata says students are leaving school with higher qualifications than ever before, including young Maori and Pasifika.

Ms Parata says figures released by the Ministry of Education today show qualification levels of school leavers have been steadily increasing.

“In 2011, nearly 72% of all school leavers attained at least NCEA Level 2 compared with 68.8% in 2010 and 66.4% in 2009.

“The figures also show that 83.8% of all school leavers attained at least NCEA Level 1 in 2011 compared with 82.1% in 2010 and just under 80% in 2009.”

Ms Parata says it’s particularly exciting to see improvement in the number of Maori and Pasifika students leaving school with either NCEA Level 1 or Level 2 or above.

“We have seen the proportion of Maori school leavers who have achieved NCEA Level 1 or above go from 61.8% in 2009 to 68.6% last year. For Pasifika students over that period it went from 72.8% to 78.2%. If we look at those with NCEA Level 2 and above, there is also pleasing progress there. Figures for Maori students have gone from 44.3% to over 51%, while for Pasifika it’s up from 55.7% to just over 63%.

“This is good news but we still need to work harder to raise the achievement levels of all students and these young school leavers in particular.

“A formal school qualification is a basic prerequisite for higher education and training and many entry-level jobs. Evidence shows that having NCEA Level 2 or an equivalent qualification allows better opportunities for further education, employment, health outcomes and an improved quality of life generally.”

“This is why the Government has set the Better Public Services target to boost skills and employment by having 85% of 18 year-olds achieving NCEA Level 2 or an equivalent qualification in 2017. In 2011, 74.3% of all 18 year-olds attained NCEA Level 2 or an equivalent qualification.”

For further information go to www.educationcounts.govt.nz

ENDS

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