New Zealand School Route Passport
The route from early learning through primary and secondary schooling, current national qualifications, vocational options, and tertiary study.
Early Learning
Selected stamp: Early Learning. Choose another stamp to update the route card.
New Zealand organizes education as a connected route from early childhood education to school and tertiary study. Early learning is optional, school education generally covers ages 5 to 19, and attendance is compulsory from ages 6 to 16. The national system combines central curriculum and qualification settings with local school governance, external evaluation, and multiple academic and vocational routes. [Education Ministry]
The latest official statistics show 856,412 students on school rolls at 1 July 2025, 2,536 schools, and a Term 2 2026 regular-attendance rate of 64.3%. Formal provider-based tertiary study enrolled 395,095 students during 2025. International assessments add another view of performance: PISA 2025 placed New Zealand at 509 in science, 497 in reading, and 480 in mathematics. These figures come from different populations and reference dates, so they should be read as separate measures rather than combined into one score for the system.
How The New Zealand Education System Is Organized
The Ministry of Education sets national direction and administers much of the system, while individual state and state-integrated schools have boards responsible for school governance. Boards set strategic direction and targets, develop policies, consult their communities, and oversee curriculum, finance, property, and health and safety. Principals manage day-to-day operations within that governance setting. [Education Ministry]
Schooling is not divided into one mandatory institutional sequence. A learner can remain in a full primary school through Year 8, attend a separate intermediate school for Years 7 and 8, or study those years within a composite or Year 7-15 secondary school. The common element is the year-level progression, not a single school type.
| Early childhood education | Birth to school entry | Optional; multiple licensed service types |
| Primary education | Years 1-8 overall | Can be delivered through contributing, full-primary, intermediate, composite, and other school settings |
| Lower secondary | Usually Years 9-10 | Broad curriculum before senior qualification study |
| Senior secondary | Usually Years 11-13 | NCEA remains the current national qualification route in 2026 |
| Vocational and workplace learning | Senior school and post-school | Provider-based vocational study, training, and apprenticeships |
| Tertiary education | Post-school and adult learning | Universities, polytechnics, wānanga, private training establishments, and other approved provision |
Schooling is compulsory from ages 6 to 16. State education is available without tuition charges for eligible domestic students from age 5 through the applicable school-age entitlement. School type does not always map one-to-one to year level.
Compulsory Schooling and School Entry
Children can generally start school at age 5, while compulsory attendance begins at age 6 and continues until age 16. Once a child younger than 6 is enrolled, attendance requirements apply. New Zealand has 13 school year levels, and many students remain in secondary education through Year 13. [Education Ministry]
School Network and Student Population
The July 2025 roll return counted 856,412 students across the school system. Primary-sector schools accounted for 466,682 students, secondary schools for 311,743, composite schools for 73,144, and specialist schools for 4,843. The official roll measure is a headcount at 1 July. That definition matters when comparing it with other statistics such as annual enrollments or FTE projections. [Education Counts]
School Roll, 2020-2025
Student headcount recorded in the 1 July school roll return.
Source: Ministry of Education, July school roll returns, 2020-2025. [Education Counts]
| 2020 | 826,347 |
| 2021 | 826,572 |
| 2022 | 815,151 |
| 2023 | 831,038 |
| 2024 | 850,999 |
| 2025 | 856,412 |
Headcount at 1 July. The published series falls to 815,151 in 2022 and reaches 856,412 in 2025.
Across this six-year window, the school roll rose by 30,065 students, or 3.6%, from 2020 to 2025. The low point was 2022. From 2022 to 2025 the roll increased by 41,261 students. Growth slowed in the latest year: the 2025 total was 5,413 above 2024, a rise of about 0.6%.
The number of schools changed far less than student numbers. New Zealand had 2,536 schools at 1 July 2025, exactly the same total as in 2020 and three more than in 2024. The 2025 network comprised 1,927 primary-sector schools, 197 composite schools, 376 secondary schools, and 36 specialist schools. [Education Counts]
The 2025 roll also shows how year-level organization affects the network. Full-primary schools carried 187,856 students, contributing primary schools 223,505, and intermediate schools 55,321. Secondary schools serving Years 9-15 enrolled 232,278 students, while Year 7-15 secondary schools enrolled 79,090. Composite-school enrollment reached 61,194, and Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu recorded 10,349. These categories describe where students are enrolled; they do not create separate national curricula for each school type.
Enrollment Projections Use A Different Measure
National school roll projections should not be placed directly beside the July headcount as though the units were identical. The projection series uses regular-school roll FTE: 842,221 for 2025, 818,522 for 2030, and 800,503 for 2035. The projected 2030 level is 2.8% below the 2025 FTE base, followed by a further 2.2% reduction by 2035. [Education Counts]
Early Learning, Language Pathways, and Learning Support
Early childhood education sits before compulsory schooling and covers the period from birth to school entry. In 2025, 64% of children aged 0 to 4 participated in ECE. Among children in the six months before they started school, participation reached 96.8%. At age 3, 77% attended for at least 10 hours a week and 41% for at least 20 hours; at age 4, the corresponding shares were 83% and 43%. [Education Counts]
The June 2025 ECE census counted 193,033 children attending licensed services during census week and 4,390 licensed services. It also recorded 33,712 teaching staff, of whom 24,167 were qualified; the qualified share was 72%, one percentage point above 2024. The ECE teaching-staff retention rate was 85%. [Education Counts]
Māori-Medium and English-Medium Language Learning
New Zealand’s school system includes distinct Māori-language settings. Education Counts defines Māori-medium education as teaching at least 51% of the curriculum through Māori language. At 1 July 2025, 28,382 students were in Māori-medium education, equal to 3.3% of the total school population. Another 266,199 students, or 31.1%, were involved in Māori language in English-medium education, where Māori is taught as a subject or used for up to half of curriculum instruction. [Education Counts]
Students in Māori-Medium Education, 2020-2025
Students receiving at least 51% of curriculum instruction through Māori language.
Source: Ministry of Education, Māori language in schooling, July roll returns. [Education Counts]
| 2020 | 22,391 |
| 2021 | 23,161 |
| 2022 | 24,366 |
| 2023 | 25,824 |
| 2024 | 27,125 |
| 2025 | 28,382 |
Māori-medium covers immersion levels 1-2, where at least 51% of curriculum instruction is through Māori language.
Māori-medium enrollment increased every year in this series, from 22,391 in 2020 to 28,382 in 2025. That is a rise of 5,991 students, or 26.8%. In the latest year alone, the increase was 1,257 students (4.6%). The 2025 network included 362 schools with at least one Māori-medium student.
Learning Support Through ORS
The Ongoing Resourcing Scheme provides school-level learning support for students with continuing high or very high needs. At 1 July 2025, 12,129 students received ORS funding, representing 1.4% of the school population. Of that group, 9,244 were funded at the High Need level and 2,885 at the Very High Need level. Students verified for ORS can remain at school until the end of the year in which they turn 21. [Education Counts]
Teachers and The Learning Environment
Teacher statistics require a clear distinction between headcount and full-time teacher equivalents. Education Counts publishes both measures because one person can work part time while staffing capacity is better represented by full-time equivalents. Workforce movement is reported separately: the entry rate into state and state-integrated school teaching was 9.7% in 2025, 0.1 percentage points below 2024. The leaving rate was 7.3% in 2024, down from 7.5% in 2023. Leaving data lag by one year because the Ministry must observe whether a teacher returns in the following year. [Education Counts]
For an internationally comparable classroom-capacity measure, OECD Education GPS reports a lower-secondary student-to-teaching-staff ratio of 16.7 students per teacher for New Zealand in 2023. That measure is not interchangeable with class size: a student-teacher ratio divides students by teaching staff across the system, while class size counts students assigned to a particular class. [OECD]
Attendance and Senior Secondary Progression
New Zealand’s main regular-attendance indicator measures the share of students who attend more than 90% of a school term. For Term 2 of 2026, 64.3% of students in state and state-integrated schools met that threshold, up 5.9 percentage points from Term 2 2025. Short-term illness and medical reasons accounted for 5.7% of all term time, while unjustified absence accounted for 3.7%, down from 4.4% one year earlier. [Education Counts]
Regular Attendance in Term 2, 2019-2026
Percentage of students attending more than 90% of the term.
Source: Ministry of Education, Term 2 regular-attendance series. The 2020 and 2021 figures are not directly comparable with other years because of unusual pandemic conditions. [Education Counts]
| 2019 | 57.3% | Standard comparison year |
| 2020 | 65.2% | Not directly comparable |
| 2021 | 59.4% | Not directly comparable |
| 2022 | 39.6% | Standard comparison year |
| 2023 | 47.0% | Standard comparison year |
| 2024 | 53.4% | Standard comparison year |
| 2025 | 58.4% | Reporting changes began in 2025 |
| 2026 | 64.3% | Latest Term 2 result |
The comparable post-2021 sequence rose from 39.6% in 2022 to 64.3% in 2026, a gain of 24.7 percentage points. The 2026 result was also 7.0 points above 2019. The raw 2020 value is higher, but the Ministry explicitly warns that 2020 and 2021 should not be compared directly with ordinary years.
NCEA and University Entrance In 2025
NCEA remains the national senior secondary qualification system in 2026. Final 2025 NZQA data show 73.5% attainment among the 45,755 Year 11 students participating in NCEA Level 1. Level 2 attainment among Year 12 students was 73.6%, Level 3 attainment among Year 13 students was 71.5%, and University Entrance attainment among Year 13 students was 52.0%. Achievement of the literacy and numeracy co-requisite by the end of Year 11 reached 73.8%. [NZQA]
| Year 11 NCEA Level 1, participating students | 71.5% | 73.5% | +2.0 |
| Year 12 NCEA Level 2 | 73.6% | 73.6% | 0.0 |
| Year 13 NCEA Level 3 | 69.4% | 71.5% | +2.1 |
| Year 13 University Entrance | 50.6% | 52.0% | +1.4 |
| Co-requisite achieved by end of Year 11 | 69.5% | 73.8% | +4.3 |
The Level 1 measure uses participating students; Level 2, Level 3, and University Entrance use enrolled-student measures. These denominators should not be treated as identical.
The largest year-to-year movement in this table is the co-requisite measure, up 4.3 percentage points. Level 3 rose 2.1 points, Level 1 rose 2.0 points, University Entrance rose 1.4 points, and Level 2 was unchanged. Education Counts separately reports school-leaver attainment, which follows qualifications held when students actually leave school and can also include Cambridge and International Baccalaureate results. That is a different population from the year-level NCEA measures above. [Education Counts]
Qualification attainment and school-leaver attainment answer related but different questions. NZQA’s year-level results describe students in specified NCEA and University Entrance populations during 2025. Education Counts’ school-leaver series instead asks what qualifications students hold when they leave secondary school and follows later destinations. Keeping those denominators separate avoids a common error: a Year 11 NCEA Level 1 percentage cannot be treated as the percentage of all school leavers who leave with Level 1 or above.
Learning Outcomes and International Performance
PISA measures 15-year-old students rather than a particular school year. In the 2025 cycle, New Zealand recorded mean scores of 509 in science, 497 in reading, and 480 in mathematics. The corresponding OECD averages were 482, 461, and 463. New Zealand’s science score was statistically similar to its scores from 2012 through 2022, while mathematics and reading were similar to 2022. [Education Counts]
PISA 2025: New Zealand and OECD Average
Mean score points for the three core PISA domains.
Source: OECD, PISA 2025. OECD marks New Zealand with an asterisk and advises caution because one or more sampling standards were not met. [OECD]
| Domain | New Zealand | OECD Average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Science | 509 | 482 | +27 |
| Reading | 497 | 461 | +36 |
| Mathematics | 480 | 463 | +17 |
PISA scores are scale points, not percentages. Differences shown here are arithmetic gaps from the 2025 OECD average.
The largest gap from the OECD mean was in reading (+36 points), followed by science (+27) and mathematics (+17). The national PISA report also shows that 29% of students were below the baseline proficiency level in mathematics in 2025, the same share as in 2022, while 11% were top mathematics performers. In the 2025 digital innovative domain, Learning in the Digital World, New Zealand averaged 531 in computational problem solving against an OECD average of 500.
PISA also reports a wide spread of achievement within New Zealand. The 2025 socioeconomic performance gap was smaller than in 2022, mainly because scores among disadvantaged students were higher. Most achievement variation occurred between students within schools rather than between schools. These distributional measures add context that a national mean cannot show on its own.
The science result also contains distribution information. In PISA 2025, 19% of New Zealand students were below the baseline science proficiency level and 13% were top science performers. Mathematics showed 29% below the baseline level and 11% at the top levels. These shares are useful alongside mean scores because two systems can record similar averages while differing in how many students sit near the lower or upper ends of the scale. OECD also advises that New Zealand’s 2025 estimates should be interpreted with caution because one or more PISA sampling standards were not met.
TIMSS and PIRLS Add Different Age Groups
TIMSS 2023 assessed mathematics and science in Years 5 and 9. In Year 5 mathematics, 7% of New Zealand students reached the advanced benchmark and 17% were below the low benchmark; the mean was higher than in 1994 but similar to the other recent cycles. In Year 9 mathematics, 8% reached the advanced benchmark and 20% were below the low benchmark, while mean achievement was similar to 2019. Year 5 science in 2023 was above the mean recorded in each of the four cycles since 2006. [Education Counts]
PIRLS supplies a younger reading measure. New Zealand’s PIRLS 2021 assessment was implemented in Term 4 of 2020, despite the cycle name, and Year 5 students recorded a mean reading score of 521 against the PIRLS scale centerpoint of 500. The timing and pandemic conditions are part of the study context and should be retained when comparing it with other cycles. [Education Counts]
Vocational Education, Apprenticeships, and Tertiary Study
Post-school education is not limited to university. The tertiary sector includes universities, polytechnics, wānanga, private training establishments, and workplace-based learning. In the 2025 tertiary workforce return, participating providers included 8 universities, 15 polytechnics, 3 wānanga, and 168 private training establishments. Provider-based student statistics and workplace-based learner statistics are published separately, so they should not be combined without checking definitions. [Education Counts]
Workplace-based learning distinguishes apprentices from other trainees. Apprentices undertake substantial workplace training toward qualifications at Level 4 or above, while trainees can follow other structured workplace programmes. In 2025 there were 16,780 new trainee entrants, 16% fewer than in the previous year. That figure describes new trainee entrants, not the total number of apprentices or all workplace learners. [Education Counts]
Tertiary Enrollment In 2025
Formal provider-based tertiary study enrolled 395,095 students in 2025, down 1.1% from 399,685 in 2024. Domestic enrollment fell 3.5% to 335,205, while international enrollment rose 15% to 59,890. At the same time, total study load increased: equivalent full-time students rose 3.7%, from 255,110 to 264,660. Fewer people were enrolled overall, but the aggregate study load was higher. [Education Counts]
Provider-Based Tertiary Students, 2024-2025
Domestic and international student headcounts enrolled in formal provider-based study.
Source: Ministry of Education, provider-based tertiary enrollments. [Education Counts]
| Student Group | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | 347,540 | 335,205 | -3.5% |
| International | 52,145 | 59,890 | +15.0% |
| Total | 399,685 | 395,095 | -1.1% |
Headcounts cover formal provider-based study during the calendar year. They exclude non-formal learning and on-job industry training.
The two components moved in opposite directions. Domestic numbers decreased by 12,335 students, while international numbers increased by 7,745. International enrollment in 2025 remained just below the 2019 level of 61,040. Qualification-level data also show different movements: bachelor enrollment rose 2.9%, master enrollment rose 17%, and doctoral enrollment rose 3.9% between 2024 and 2025.
Qualification completions moved upward in 2025. Domestic students completed 123,200 formal qualifications, 5.9% more than in 2024, while international students completed 21,230, up 22%. Completion counts are not the same as student headcounts because one person may complete a qualification during a year in which total enrollment follows a different pattern. [Education Counts]
The 2025 provider data also separate headcount from study intensity. Domestic EFTS increased from 218,285 in 2024 to 220,300 in 2025 even though the domestic student headcount fell. International EFTS rose from 36,825 to 44,360, a 20% increase. At qualification level, domestic bachelor completion rates for students measured over seven years remained at 68% in 2025, while the three-year completion rate for domestic Level 4 certificate starters was 62%, up from 59% in 2024. These rate measures follow cohorts over defined periods and therefore should not be compared directly with annual completion counts.
Education Funding and Spending Measures
Funding data arrive with a longer reporting lag than enrollment and attendance data. OECD’s 2025 country note uses 2022 as the reference year for several spending indicators. It reports education investment from primary through tertiary education at 5.1% of GDP, compared with an OECD average of 4.7%. Government expenditure per tertiary student was USD 11,444 against an OECD average of USD 15,102. [OECD]
In the OECD series, expenditure per student rose from USD 10,005 in 2015 to USD 11,329 in 2022, an increase of about 13.2% in real terms. Over the same period, education’s share of public budgets moved from 12.9% to 10.7%, a reduction of 2.2 percentage points. Those indicators answer different questions: per-student expenditure measures resources relative to enrollment, the GDP share compares education spending with the size of the economy, and the public-budget share compares education with total public expenditure.
OECD also reports a different public-finance measure: public initial-source funding from primary through tertiary education was 4.4% of GDP in 2022, while private initial-source funding was 0.8%. That split should not be substituted for the 5.1% education-investment indicator above without checking the OECD definitions and level coverage. The figures illustrate why education-finance comparisons need the exact unit, funding source, reference year, and education levels stated beside the number.
Quality Assurance and Accountability
Quality assurance is distributed across institutions rather than assigned to one national inspectorate for every education level. The Education Review Office evaluates pre-tertiary providers and publishes school and kura reports. Its current school-review cycle is generally every three to four years, with review activity focused on educational provision, learner outcomes, governance, and improvement actions. [ERO]
NZQA administers national qualification settings and publishes NCEA and University Entrance attainment data, while the Ministry of Education maintains national statistical collections covering rolls, attendance, teachers, early learning, school leavers, tertiary education, and other system measures. The result is a quality picture built from several evidence types: external review, qualification attainment, participation data, attendance, and national and international assessment.
Curriculum and Qualification Changes Scheduled From 2026
The Years 0-10 national curriculum is moving through a staged implementation schedule. In 2026, Years 0-10 English, Mathematics and Statistics, Te Reo Rangatira, and Te Pāngarau are in the implementation sequence. Science, Social Sciences, Pūtaiao, and Pūmanawa Tangata begin for Years 0-8 in 2027, with full implementation required by the end of 2028. All learning areas for Years 9-10 are expected to start from 2027, with full implementation by the end of that year. [National Curriculum]
The senior years follow later: updated Year 11 content is scheduled for 2028, Year 12 for 2029, and Year 13 for 2030. Remaining Years 0-8 learning areas are scheduled to begin in 2029, with full implementation by the end of 2030. These dates describe the published implementation schedule as of September 2026; they should not be read as if every updated learning area began in the same year.
There is also a timing detail for Māori-medium curriculum materials. As of 23 September 2026, the official curriculum page stated that the fully updated Years 0-10 New Zealand Curriculum was available, while the full Tau 0-10 Te Marautanga o Aotearoa release was scheduled for 25 September 2026. A future-dated release should not be described as already completed before that date.
The Senior Qualification Route Will Change By Cohort
NCEA is still the current qualification route in 2026, but the published transition schedule changes the senior sequence over the next four years. A Foundational Award is scheduled for 2028, when NCEA Level 1 is removed. The New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) is scheduled to begin in 2029, followed by the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE) in 2030. Operational details, including transitional arrangements and the review of University Entrance requirements, continue to be developed. [Senior Qualifications]
- 2026: NCEA remains the current national senior qualification route; updated curriculum content continues to be published and implemented.
- 2027: New Year 10 curriculum requirements take effect within the published schedule.
- 2028: Updated Year 11 curriculum is required; the Foundational Award begins; NCEA Level 1 is removed.
- 2029: Updated Year 12 curriculum is required; NZCE begins.
- 2030: Updated Year 13 curriculum is required; NZACE begins.
For readers comparing cohorts, the year matters. A student completing senior secondary school under the 2026 system follows a different named qualification route from a student reaching the same stage after the 2028-2030 transition. The structure of schooling itself remains recognizable—early learning, Years 1-13, vocational options, and tertiary study—but the senior credential sequence is changing on a published timetable.
