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.
School Education
Schools provide the second level of education. Free education is provided to New Zealand citizens or permanent residents in state (government owned and funded) schools between the ages of five and 19.
There are over 2,500 state schools in New Zealand. School rolls range from 10 to over 2,000 pupils. Most (86 percent) school- aged children attend state schools. The remainder attend state integrated (operated as a state school but with the particular religious or philosophical perspective of their owner), private schools, or are schooled at home.
The education system for schools comprises 13 Year levels. Schooling is compulsory from the age of six to 16, which for most students is Year 11, although most students carry on to Years 12 and 13.
Both single-sex and co-educational secondary schooling options are available and state schools are secular. Most students attend the school closest to where they live.
The New Zealand school year usually runs from the end of January to mid-December, and is divided into four terms.
There is a compulsory national curriculum for Years 1 to 10. Most schools are English language, but some schools teach in the Mäori language.
Primary education
Children may start school at age five and the majority do so, although schooling is not compulsory until the age of six.
Primary education starts at Year 1 and continues until Year 8, with Years 7 and 8 mostly offered at either a primary or a separate intermediate school.
Primary education focuses on strong foundation learning, especially in literacy and numeracy.
Secondary education
Secondary education covers Years 9 to 13, during which students are generally aged 13 to 17. State secondary schools are usually known as secondary schools, high schools or colleges.
In secondary schools the timetable is arranged around subjects and although students continue to experience a broad and balanced curriculum some specialisation is possible especially in years 11 to 13. Secondary students may begin courses of a more vocational nature while at school but there is no direct separation of programmes into academic and vocational streams. Entry to work or further study (eg university) is not limited by the type of secondary school a student attends. Students are provided with professional career counselling.
Some schools in New Zealand are:
- state schools – the majority
- private (also known as independent) schools that charge fees for the education they provide. There are over 100 of these
- state integrated schools (325) which 10 percent of school- aged children attend. These are largely government funded and have programmes with a particular religious or learning philosophy
- boarding schools (both state and private) where students live in the school during the term
- for students with special education needs (such as impairments, learning or behaviour difficulties).
School curriculum
New Zealand has a national curriculum which applies to all state schools and state integrated schools. It covers all the years of schooling and is compulsory from Year 1 to the end of Year 10.
The curriculum describes the key competencies and learning outcomes people need in order to live, learn, work and contribute as active members of their communities, rather than prescribing what school students must learn or what teachers must teach.
It describes:
- the Vision what we want for our young people
- a set of Principles – the foundations of curriculum decision making
- Values – to be encouraged, modelled and explored
- five Key Competencies – capabilities for living and lifelong learning
- eight Learning Areas – important for a broad general education.
The curriculum gives teachers flexibility to apply their professional knowledge. They can personalise learning to the needs of their students and communities.
A variety of special projects in specific areas of the curriculum are making a difference, especially in ages and groups that have been identified as underachieving.
New Zealand has specific programmes for formative assessment, known as assessment for learning. Assessment for learning includes all those activities undertaken by teachers, and by the students in assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. Such assessments become formative when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching to meet the student’s learning needs.
New Zealand has a programme of Best Evidence Synthesis (BES), designed to strengthen the evidence base that informs education policy and practice.
For more information on the New Zealand curriculum, go to the New Zealand Curriculum website.
School governance and management
Schools in New Zealand are self-governing and managed within a national framework of regulation and guidance. Community involvement and meeting each student’s needs are fundamental principles. National Administration Guidelines (NAGs) for school administration set out desirable principles of conduct or administration in schools.
School boards are required to develop individual charters and annual plans and report their performance against these.
Education Review Office
Schools are regularly reviewed by the Education Review Office, a government quality assurance agency, which is independent of the Ministry of Education. The review reports are made available to the public.