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The New Zealand Qualifications Authority has released its 2022 report providing further details about overall attainment across the country. (File photo)
It appears if you want your child to do well academically, then it’s best to send them to a high school in Otago.
That’s according to last year’s overall NCEA and UE (university entrance) attainment results contained in the New Zealand Qualifications Authority just released 2022 report.
In Otago, 78.9% of students achieved NCEA level 1, followed by Southland (77.3%) and Hawke’s Bay (76.8%). Across level 2 this was 85.4% in Otago, followed by Nelson (83.4%) and Tasman (82.3%) and also topped level 3 at 77.2%, followed by Nelson (76.8%) and Canterbury (74%).
UE attainment also was highest in the Otago region at 63.7%, followed by Nelson (57.1%) and Wellington (56.2%).
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Otago Secondary Principals’ Association chairperson Mike Wright attributed the high rates to a variety of factors, like strong school engagement with families in the pandemic years and community support, including from local tertiary institutions.
Mary-Jo Tohill/Stuff
South Otago High School principal Mike Wright. (File photo)
These factors weren’t necessarily unique to Otago, he said.
Students being able to take part in apprenticeship training and complete papers at tertiary institutes, including the University of Otago, while still at school also helped them with getting NCEA credits.
“That is a real pillar,” Wright said.
It was also important to provide different pathways as not every student was looking to attend university, Wright said.
The South Otago High School principal was happy with his own students’ results for the year.
“There are some very pleasing results we are looking to build on this year.”
By comparison, Gisborne and Northland had the lowest levels of attainment across categories (Northland: level 1 56.4%, UE 37.9%, Gisborne: level 2 69.1%, level 3 56.8%).
The report also found Māori had the lowest rates of attainment across the board:
- Level 1 – 53.9%, compared to a national average of 64.9%
- Level 2 – 64.1%, compared to a national average of 74.9%
- Level 3 – 55.7%, compared to a national average of 68.2%
- UE – 30.9%, compared to a national average of 50.3%
Alongside the 2022 report, NZQA released the findings of its three-year research project exploring how to improve the equity of outcomes for Māori and Pacific scholarship students.
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Education Minister Jan Tinetti made the announcement at Papatoetoe High School in Auckland.
It found ākonga Māori and Pacific students were entered for NZ Scholarship at “disproportionately low rates” and typically in fewer NZ Scholarship subjects, NZQA deputy chief executive assessment Jann Marshall said.
“Amongst the paper’s recommendations, it notes that achievement of 14 or more Excellence credits at NCEA Level 2 in a subject can be used as one of the signposts that a student has the potential of achieving NZ Scholarship in that subject.”
Marshall earlier expressed concern about the continuing and significant differences in attainment between Māori and Pacific students and their European or Asian peers when the initial results were released.
“Work needs to continue across the education sector to address this gap,” she said.