NZ education system overview
An overview of the governance and structure of education in New Zealand, including information on quality assurance and the international comparability of New Zealand secondary school and tertiary education qualifications.
Education in New Zealand
New Zealand’s education system is world-class, modern and responsive. It combines proven, traditional principles of education with innovation, creativity and fresh thinking to produce leaders and citizens equipped for the 21st century.
We seek a world leading education system that equips all New Zealanders with the knowledge, skills and values to be successful citizens in the 21st century. In the current knowledge age, learners need to know how to problem-solve, synthesise information, work with others, create and innovate.
These goals are at the heart of New Zealand’s education system.
All aspects of education in New Zealand have undergone transformation in the past two decades, including the areas of governance, curriculum, assessment, qualifications, and teaching and learning. As a result, a range of new ideas and methods have been successfully adopted, based on evidence and research. Education in New Zealand is focused on the life-long learning needs of students.
Each student is able to develop their potential along a number of possible pathways, academic and/or vocational. Schools and teachers use a variety of learning materials, experiences and media to encourage critical thinking. This focus on research-evidenced best practice is one of the factors contributing to raising student achievement in New Zealand.
There is considerable international interest in New Zealand’s achievements in education. New Zealand has educational agencies, providers, managers and teachers with a good understanding of what works and why. New Zealand educators’ expertise and experience are also increasingly sought after around the world.
International benchmarking tells us that:
- in December 2006, 77 percent of New Zealanders aged between 25 and 64 years had gained secondary or tertiary qualifications. This is at the upper end of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) scale and well above the OECD average of 67 percent
- between 1991 and 2005 the proportion of adults with a bachelors’ degree or higher qualification rose from eight percent to almost 20 percent (418,000 people)
- OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) studies (2000, 2003 and 2006) show New Zealand’s 15 year old students perform well above the international mean in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy (also problem solving in 2003). Of the 57 countries participating in PISA 2006, only two countries performed better than New Zealand (Finland and Hong Kong), eight countries were similar, and the other 46 countries were significantly lower
- although average achievement is high, New Zealand needs to continue to work to lift the achievement of those at the lower end.