May 16, 2026 • 9 mins
The Education Minister says the new secondary school qualifications are achievable and aspirational.
Yesterday, Erica Stanford announced senior students will need to pass three out of five subjects to achieve the new certificates.
The new system will be phased in from 2028 and reward students with endorsements for passing all five subjects.
Stanford explained that the first tranche of the curriculum has been sent out for consultation.
"They're going to be dropping it in three tranches, just to not overwhelm the sector. I've got a group of principals who are keeping an eye on it - the curriculum advisory group."
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talks'b.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Earlier this l we heard from Secondary Principles Council around
the new NCEA replacement qualification. Education Minister Erica Stanford joins me. Now,
thank you so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Erica, I no problem, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Okay, lots of good stuff here. It's not a huge
leap to understand the change in the qualification structure. It's
very similar to what students need to achieve at present.
Good to see science being prioritized, avenues into trade retained
as much simpler grading system so that parents like me
don't get confused between what an A in and E is.
But there is some concern around the detail of the curriculum.
(00:47):
How far along is the curriculum.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
The curriculum is currently being led by some amazing secondary
principles and a bunch of writers from schools around the country.
The first tranch has just dropped for consultation. They're going
to be dropping it in three tranches to just not
sort of overwhelm the sector.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I've got a group of principles who are keeping an
eye on it.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
The Curriculum Advisory Group, and their feedback so far is
that it's the best curriculum I've ever seen. So I'm
feeling really confident, and that's important because all of our
reforms are underpinned by a knowledge rich, internationally comparable, consistent
national curriculum that most people don't know we don't currently
have in senior secondary.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So we're raising the bar when it comes to our
literacy and our numeracy. Are we ready to deliver this
because actually we need to start delivering it to those
students in year nine.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Now we do, and that's why you will see in
budget this year a secondary focus to make sure that
we are properly resourcing the sector, not only with classroom
resources and lesson plans, but also professional learning and development.
And you've seen us do that in primary and we'll
do it again for secondary.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Okay, so science of course is going to be compulsory
up to year eleven. When we spoke to the Secondary
Principal's Council, they said, look, there could be some teacher
shoe there and some facility issues there. How are we
going to address those?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yes, that is correct, and I am going to make
sure that the data we get for the first time
ever tells us which subjects we are shorten and where.
For too long we've not been able to tell by
subject where we need people.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
So next year we'll be able to do that.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I have the tools up my sleeve in order to
be able to target those teachers where they are needed
through the on site teacher training, the teacher bonding scheme
to make sure that we are packing up science teachers
and putting them where they are required, so we can
build that capability over the next couple of years.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Will there be subjects that will be purely determined by
an external exam or will all subjects have an internal aspect?
Speaker 4 (02:54):
All subjects will have an internal assessment was very important
to us to make sure that students can show what
they know and can do through internals, and especially in
artistic subjects like performance music or art or photography where
you can imagine a portfolio or a performance will be
very important, or even in science when you're demonstrating an experiment,
(03:15):
but also important that at the end of the year
they're able to demonstrate the knowledge that they've learned over
the year in examination conditions and the key difference that
many people haven't picked up on between this system and
the old is everything you do counts. So prior, if
you sat a standard and you failed it, you've got
nothing if you sit your exam under this new when
(03:37):
you you will sit your exam under this new system,
even if you only get forty five percent, that forty
five percent will count towards your overall grade when we
aggregate everything together.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
So that's why it.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Incentivizes students to go to their exam, to do well
in their internals, to make sure that they get the
best possible shot of a good grade at the end.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I think probably the thing that most parents and students
want at the moment is some certainty. And you have
said that you're not sure how you're going to balance
the weight of that exam compared to the internal sty
in all these subjects. Yet when are you going to
be able to tell students that it.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Won't be too long? Where what we're doing is, as
you know, writing the curriculum at the same time we're
making these announcements, and so once we have confirmed the curriculum,
it has been written and confirmed, then we will be
able to make announcements on the waiting of those subjects.
But parents can broadly, expect that for performance based and
artistic based subjects that the waiting on the end of
(04:34):
your exam will be far lower than, for example, if
you were sitting in English or a biology or a
physics exam. More broadly, but we will have information on
that will release it as soon as we're able to
once the curriculum has been finalized.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Okay, why are we sidelining humanities when every expert tells
us critical thinking and the humanities is what's going to
provide us with the job defens against AI.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
What makes you think that we're sidelining those things.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Well, I'm just hearing from well obviously art history. Don't
get me. They're very passionate, the art history lovers out there.
It feels like languages is is getting sidelined. I've been
told by teachers.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Oh, not at all languages. The curriculum is being written.
I mean, the issue with art history was that there
just wasn't the volume that we needed to be able to.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Invest in that subject.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
But what we are doing is taking that knowledge and
putting it into some of the art subjects like photography
and art for example, and fine art, so that when
you sit your final year exam, you can show what
you know about art history or the history of music
or the history of photography, for example. So it's not
(05:43):
being lost, it's just being shifted into those areas.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I think it's also a little consumed with science now
being compulsory, and you're eleven. You've got mass, you've got science,
you've got English, You've got room for two more subjects,
and sometimes the squeeze comes on to those subjects, you
know what I mean. So you know, I think people
are very concerned that you're having to make decisions quite
really on in your career about what you're going to
do in those humanity slips away. Do you think that
this correct and will excite students?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
It will.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
I mean, we are writing a whole lot of new
subjects that didn't exist before, like politics, philosophy and civics
and journalism, media and communications, advanced mathematics. I mean, there's
a whole load of really new exciting subjects to engage
students and young people in their learning. So there will
be a smallest board of things they can choose from.
(06:30):
But it is really important that the basics in mathematics
and English and also scientific understanding and not necessarily science itself,
but a way of thinking and analyzing and critiquing and
proving whether or not you are right or wrong, or
challenging your assumptions or your thoughts based on scientific evidence,
and the way that we prove or disprove things is
(06:52):
very important skills that young people need to take on
into further learning. So it's been very well received that
we're including science as a base subject in year eleven.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
And look, a lot of schools, but half of.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Schools already do that, but it's important that the other
half give those students the opportunity to learn those skills
as well.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Look, I don't think anyone's going to complain about raising
the standard of the qualification. But you know, when I
talk to you know, my seventeen or nineteen year old
about what was the most important thing that'sched. Was it
the curriculum, you know, was it the qualification? Was it
the way it was great? They all said it all
comes down to the teacher. You know, if you don't
have a good teacher, it doesn't matter what None of
(07:34):
this really matters. The government has spoken very positively about
teacher training and support and teacher aid support, but where
is it I haven't spoken to one teacher who's seen
a change yet.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Well, we invested seven hundred and fifteen million dollars at
the last election into our vulnerable kids, predominantly in those
early years, because if we know we go in early,
we can solve so many problems later in life. So
the early investment into the early intervention scheme has been enormous.
I mean it's over six hundred million dollars into just
(08:07):
that scheme of teacher aides and learning support and early
intervention teachers and educational psychologists and speech language therapists.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
It is a massive event. We are still rolling on it.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Our We need to help the kids who are year
nine now who have missed that opportunity, don't we.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
And we have a budget package that is coming up
this year that is secondary focused, like we've done in primary,
to make sure that we are ensuring that teachers are
implementing these reforms with fidelity and making sure that all
children have the.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Ability to succeed.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
So you will see in May this year that secondary
focused budget that will give teachers the resources they need
they need alongside this world leading curriculum to support them.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Looking forward to it. Erica Stanford Education Minister. Thank you
very much for your time this morning. Appreciated.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on my Heart Radio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talks'b.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Earlier this l we heard from Secondary Principles Council around
the new NCEA replacement qualification. Education Minister Erica Stanford joins me. Now,
thank you so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Erica, I no problem, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Okay, lots of good stuff here. It's not a huge
leap to understand the change in the qualification structure. It's
very similar to what students need to achieve at present.
Good to see science being prioritized, avenues into trade retained
as much simpler grading system so that parents like me
don't get confused between what an A in and E is.
But there is some concern around the detail of the curriculum.
(00:47):
How far along is the curriculum.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
The curriculum is currently being led by some amazing secondary
principles and a bunch of writers from schools around the country.
The first tranch has just dropped for consultation. They're going
to be dropping it in three tranches to just not
sort of overwhelm the sector.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I've got a group of principles who are keeping an
eye on it.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
The Curriculum Advisory Group, and their feedback so far is
that it's the best curriculum I've ever seen. So I'm
feeling really confident, and that's important because all of our
reforms are underpinned by a knowledge rich, internationally comparable, consistent
national curriculum that most people don't know we don't currently
have in senior secondary.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So we're raising the bar when it comes to our
literacy and our numeracy. Are we ready to deliver this
because actually we need to start delivering it to those
students in year nine.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Now we do, and that's why you will see in
budget this year a secondary focus to make sure that
we are properly resourcing the sector, not only with classroom
resources and lesson plans, but also professional learning and development.
And you've seen us do that in primary and we'll
do it again for secondary.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Okay, so science of course is going to be compulsory
up to year eleven. When we spoke to the Secondary
Principal's Council, they said, look, there could be some teacher
shoe there and some facility issues there. How are we
going to address those?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yes, that is correct, and I am going to make
sure that the data we get for the first time
ever tells us which subjects we are shorten and where.
For too long we've not been able to tell by
subject where we need people.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
So next year we'll be able to do that.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I have the tools up my sleeve in order to
be able to target those teachers where they are needed
through the on site teacher training, the teacher bonding scheme
to make sure that we are packing up science teachers
and putting them where they are required, so we can
build that capability over the next couple of years.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Will there be subjects that will be purely determined by
an external exam or will all subjects have an internal aspect?
Speaker 4 (02:54):
All subjects will have an internal assessment was very important
to us to make sure that students can show what
they know and can do through internals, and especially in
artistic subjects like performance music or art or photography where
you can imagine a portfolio or a performance will be
very important, or even in science when you're demonstrating an experiment,
(03:15):
but also important that at the end of the year
they're able to demonstrate the knowledge that they've learned over
the year in examination conditions and the key difference that
many people haven't picked up on between this system and
the old is everything you do counts. So prior, if
you sat a standard and you failed it, you've got
nothing if you sit your exam under this new when
(03:37):
you you will sit your exam under this new system,
even if you only get forty five percent, that forty
five percent will count towards your overall grade when we
aggregate everything together.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
So that's why it.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Incentivizes students to go to their exam, to do well
in their internals, to make sure that they get the
best possible shot of a good grade at the end.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I think probably the thing that most parents and students
want at the moment is some certainty. And you have
said that you're not sure how you're going to balance
the weight of that exam compared to the internal sty
in all these subjects. Yet when are you going to
be able to tell students that it.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Won't be too long? Where what we're doing is, as
you know, writing the curriculum at the same time we're
making these announcements, and so once we have confirmed the curriculum,
it has been written and confirmed, then we will be
able to make announcements on the waiting of those subjects.
But parents can broadly, expect that for performance based and
artistic based subjects that the waiting on the end of
(04:34):
your exam will be far lower than, for example, if
you were sitting in English or a biology or a
physics exam. More broadly, but we will have information on
that will release it as soon as we're able to
once the curriculum has been finalized.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Okay, why are we sidelining humanities when every expert tells
us critical thinking and the humanities is what's going to
provide us with the job defens against AI.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
What makes you think that we're sidelining those things.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Well, I'm just hearing from well obviously art history. Don't
get me. They're very passionate, the art history lovers out there.
It feels like languages is is getting sidelined. I've been
told by teachers.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Oh, not at all languages. The curriculum is being written.
I mean, the issue with art history was that there
just wasn't the volume that we needed to be able to.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Invest in that subject.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
But what we are doing is taking that knowledge and
putting it into some of the art subjects like photography
and art for example, and fine art, so that when
you sit your final year exam, you can show what
you know about art history or the history of music
or the history of photography, for example. So it's not
(05:43):
being lost, it's just being shifted into those areas.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I think it's also a little consumed with science now
being compulsory, and you're eleven. You've got mass, you've got science,
you've got English, You've got room for two more subjects,
and sometimes the squeeze comes on to those subjects, you
know what I mean. So you know, I think people
are very concerned that you're having to make decisions quite
really on in your career about what you're going to
do in those humanity slips away. Do you think that
this correct and will excite students?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
It will.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
I mean, we are writing a whole lot of new
subjects that didn't exist before, like politics, philosophy and civics
and journalism, media and communications, advanced mathematics. I mean, there's
a whole load of really new exciting subjects to engage
students and young people in their learning. So there will
be a smallest board of things they can choose from.
(06:30):
But it is really important that the basics in mathematics
and English and also scientific understanding and not necessarily science itself,
but a way of thinking and analyzing and critiquing and
proving whether or not you are right or wrong, or
challenging your assumptions or your thoughts based on scientific evidence,
and the way that we prove or disprove things is
(06:52):
very important skills that young people need to take on
into further learning. So it's been very well received that
we're including science as a base subject in year eleven.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
And look, a lot of schools, but half of.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Schools already do that, but it's important that the other
half give those students the opportunity to learn those skills
as well.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Look, I don't think anyone's going to complain about raising
the standard of the qualification. But you know, when I
talk to you know, my seventeen or nineteen year old
about what was the most important thing that'sched. Was it
the curriculum, you know, was it the qualification? Was it
the way it was great? They all said it all
comes down to the teacher. You know, if you don't
have a good teacher, it doesn't matter what None of
(07:34):
this really matters. The government has spoken very positively about
teacher training and support and teacher aid support, but where
is it I haven't spoken to one teacher who's seen
a change yet.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Well, we invested seven hundred and fifteen million dollars at
the last election into our vulnerable kids, predominantly in those
early years, because if we know we go in early,
we can solve so many problems later in life. So
the early investment into the early intervention scheme has been enormous.
I mean it's over six hundred million dollars into just
(08:07):
that scheme of teacher aides and learning support and early
intervention teachers and educational psychologists and speech language therapists.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
It is a massive event. We are still rolling on it.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Our We need to help the kids who are year
nine now who have missed that opportunity, don't we.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
And we have a budget package that is coming up
this year that is secondary focused, like we've done in primary,
to make sure that we are ensuring that teachers are
implementing these reforms with fidelity and making sure that all
children have the.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Ability to succeed.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
So you will see in May this year that secondary
focused budget that will give teachers the resources they need
they need alongside this world leading curriculum to support them.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Looking forward to it. Erica Stanford Education Minister. Thank you
very much for your time this morning. Appreciated.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on my Heart Radio
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