NCEA changes for Auckland students after extra lockdown

The Government has announced changes that will make NCEA easier for Auckland students. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The Government has announced changes that will make NCEA easier for Auckland students.

The changes build on the system of bonus credits previously announced for all students, and have been made because Auckland students have been through two-and-a-half more weeks of lockdown than students elsewhere.

While teenagers in the rest of the country would get one bonus credit for every five credits they achieved, Auckland students would get one bonus credit for every four they earned.

Auckland students would be eligible for a maximum of 16 bonus credits at level 1, and 12 at levels 2 and 3. For the rest of the country the maximums were 10 and eight.

"The resurgence of Covid in the community has meant that some students - particularly those in Auckland - have spent a longer period out of their classrooms at a critical time of year, and additional changes to NCEA are being made to recognise this," Education Minister Chris Hipkins said.

The government was also reducing the threshold to receive a merit or excellence NCEA certificate endorsement from 46 credits to 44. Normally the threshold was 50 credits at merit or excellence.

"Today's decisions will provide immediate relief to students, teachers and whānau who are concerned about the impact of the second lockdown on the opportunity to attain NCEA while maintaining the credibility and reputation of the qualification," he said.

The changes would apply to students in Auckland and to any others who might go through an alert level 3 lockdown before the end of the school year.

Hipkins said the government was also lifting the cap on the number of places available in the Correspondence School's summer school from 1000 students to 4000.