This article looks at HOW home educated students can gain NCEA, including the criteria to gain credits, how link schools work etc. For a more general overview of how NCEA itself is structured, and the changes taking place, as well as alternative high school qualification options, and ideas around preparing for qualifications, see THIS article. 

NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) is the NZ state high school qualification. It is administered by NZQA (New Zealand Qualifications Authority). Among other things, NZQA determines what unit standards and achievement standards are approved, oversees the assessment of student work for credit, and maintains the databases of standards, assessment rules, and student achievements. 

Only organisations with "consent to assess" (student work) and "consent to access" (the framework) are permitted to assess work, determine whether it meets the requirements to gain the credits attached to the unit of work, and upload the results to the framework. These organisations are typically: most secondary schools, most tertiary education organisations, and other approved education providers. There are NO homeschool organisations with consent to assess/access, and so home educated students must have work assessed by one of the approved providers in order to gain credits and have them added to their learning record on the NZQF (NZ Qualifications Framework, which is controlled by NZQA). 

NCEA has three levels - Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 - typically completed in Years 11, 12 and 13 in schools. 
NCEA is changing, and these changes are being rolled out over the next several years. The timeline has been adjusted several times, to this may be subject to further changes. As of now (July 2023), the following applies:

Students entering Level 1 in 2024 will be under the new system for Level 1, which is that they will need to gain 60 Level 1 credits, plus 20 literacy/numeracy credits. 

These literacy/numeracy credits will be gained by sitting a Common Assessment Activity (CAA) which is an external exam done online at schools, offered at least twice (possibly more) per year. Once the new NCEA system is fully rolled out, ALL NCEA students will need to pass the CAA in order to be awarded any level of NCEA, though they can attempt it as many times as needed in order to pass. HOWEVER...

For 2024 and 2025, students will also be able to gain the required literacy and numeracy credits through an alternative set of assessment standards. There has been considerable concern expressed about the NCEA changes, which has resulted in this temporary allowance, among other tweaks to the timeline. I don't yet have information on what these assessment standards will be, though I suspect they'll be a continuation of the current lit/num standards in the meantime, or something very similar. 

Students entering Level 2 in 2024-2025 will still be under the present system, which is that they must gain 60 credits at Level 2 or above, plus 20 credits at any level, while also meeting the Level 1 literacy/numeracy requirements (which is what usually comprises the extra 20 credits). 

Students entering Level 2 from 2026 onwards, will be under the new system, which is that they must gain 60 Level 2 credits, plus have passed the CAA exam. 

Students entering Level 3 in 2024-2026 will still be under the present system, which is that they must gain 60 credits from Level 3 or above plus 20 credits from Level 2 or above (these can be previously earned "carry over credits") and must also have met the Level 1 literacy/numeracy requirements. 

Students entering Level 3 from 2027 onwards will be under the new system - requiring 60 Level 3 credits, plus have passed the CAA exam. 

University Entrance requirements (via NCEA) are currently that the student must have gained each of the following:

• NCEA Level 3
• 14 credits at Level 3 in each of three approved subjects
• Literacy - 10 credits at Level 2 or above, made up of:
  • 5 credits in reading
  • 5 credits in writing
• Numeracy - 10 credits at Level 1 or above, made up of:
  • achievement standards – specified achievement standards available through a range of subjects, or
  • unit standards - package of three numeracy unit standards (26623, 26626, 26627- all three required), or
  • numeracy unit standard 32406 OR te pāngarau unit standard 32412. (these are for students in 2022-2023 only)

University Entrance requirements are being reviewed in light of NCEA changes, and there are expected to be some amendments from 2024, though this may be pushed out due to the delay in Level 2&3 changes. 

More information about the NCEA change programme, approved standards, NCEA in general and University Entrance can be found at the following websites:

• New home of NCEA
• NZQA's existing/older site
• NZQA's revamped (still in progress) site​

(There's quite a bit of cross over in internal links between the above three sites currently). 

Each year, NZQA publishes its current "assessment rules" for NCEA. In previous years, there has been a set of rules and several pages on the website dedicated to homeschooled students, including information on how our students are assessed, using a link school, and a document to get the school to sign. This year, they've removed all that, and just have the one set of rules, which specifically state that they replace, among other things, the previous assessment rules for home-schooled students. The 2023 set of rules can be viewed HERE. 

What is not immediately clear in reading them is HOW they apply to home educated students, and whether there are any significant changes on previous years, so after some digging, and some emails with NZQA (it only took them 6 months to answer me, hence the delay in publishing this article!), here's what you need to know: 

Buried on the website is a document called "Internal and External Assessment of Home-Schooled Students." It explains that:

• Home-schooled students and other persons who are not enrolled in a School are only eligible to be assessed against standards [for credit] or enter in a New Zealand Scholarship subject through linking with a School with Consent to Assess.
• There is no obligation on the part of any School to act as a Link School for home-schooled students wishing to enter for standards assessment or enter a New Zealand Scholarship subject.
• Home-schooled students wishing to enter for assessment standards or enter a New Zealand Scholarship subject must do so through a Link School using the appropriate form (see below)
• A home-schooled student must meet all entry and eligibility criteria as specified in the Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess 2022 and are subject to the requirements of those Rules.
• A home-schooled student who wishes to enter for New Zealand Scholarship must not have completed their secondary education in a previous year and must attest to their eligibility through a Justice of the Peace.
• Before accepting an entry for any unit or achievement standard from a home-schooled student or other person, the Principal's Nominee of the School must be satisfied that the assessment programme undertaken by the home-schooled student is:
  • fair, valid, reliable, and consistent nationally with the assessment Standard; and
  • all work presented for assessment by the student or other person is authentic.

             Note: All relevant internally assessed work must be moderated by the Link School.

• The Link School must carry out the necessary administration tasks for entering home-schooled students in examinations or other external assessments.
• The home-schooled student's results must be processed along with other students’ results from the Link School.
• A School which agrees to link with and / or perform other services for students who are home-schooled may make arrangements necessary to do so, including for any administrative costs.

You can view the above document HERE. It has an additional page with some links, though a couple of them are out of date. 

Even more buried is the form you need to use. I've saved a copy and you can download it HERE, as it's not easy to access from the NZQA website. This form has sections for internal assessment agreement, external assessment, and scholarship entry. Once completed, you need to keep a copy, and so does the school. The form is useful in discussing the options with the school, as many of them have no idea whatsoever how this works. 

Note that internal assessment is where the student completes work that is then assessed by a teacher at the school. External assessment is where the student sits exams (which are marked via NZQA). The new CAAs are externals, though they are sat at different times of year to the other external exams, which are held in set blocks near the end of the year. 

As noted above, most schools have no idea how NCEA assessment for homeschooled students works. If you would like to make a link school arrangement, you will need to approach suitable schools near you, make an appointment, and discuss it with them, which means you will likely need to explain to them how this works, and request for them to agree to be a link school for your student. Remember, they are under no obligation to do so. Take copies of the two documents linked above to show them, and if they agree to do so, get them to fill in their parts of the second form. 

The reality is that getting a high school to agree to be a link school for external exams is usually not too difficult. In such cases, all they need to do is take care of a little paperwork, order the examination papers for the student, ensure they have a place to sit in the exams, collect the papers afterwards and send them in. They're doing this for 100s of other students and one more is no big deal. They also routinely do this for Te Kura students, so are relatively familiar with the process. Making an appointment to see the Principal's Nominee and discussing it and completing the paperwork is often all it takes. 

However, finding a school willing to act as a link school for internal assessment is a completely different matter. Most schools consider themselves too busy with their own students and don't want to even think about this. And if they are more willing, they will have questions like - what are they assessing? Who sets/decides the work? How does it align with the assessment standards? How do they know the student has not cheated? etc. By the way, there are no set answers to these questions - they are all matters for discussion/negotiation. The result is that it is rare for a school to agree to provide internal assessment for home educated students. The Ministry is convinced that most schools should be willing to do so, but this has never been the reality. 

One of the most common questions in light of the above is: can a student attain NCEA via external credits only? The answer to this is - possibly. Each set of external exams includes several papers, each one examining a certain assessment standard, and each worth a set number of credits. You can find out the details of exams and credits for each subject on the NZQA website. It takes a bit to get your head around the details and how to find things on the website, but to give an example, I can see that the Level 1 Science exam for 2023 will include the following:

• 90940 - Demonstrate understanding of aspects of mechanics - 4 credits
• 90944 - Demonstrate understanding of aspects of acids and bases - 4 credits
• 90948 - Demonstrate understanding of biological ideas relating to genetic variation - 4 credits

Now, a student does not have to sit ALL of the papers in an exam - they may have just enrolled for certain ones - and it's worth noting that they have the full 3 hours available in an exam to work on whatever papers they are sitting, even if it's not the full number of available ones. But if our hypothetical student DID sit all three of the above science papers, and was successful in all of them, they could gain a total maximum of 12 credits in science. 

Remember that for each paper you plan to have your student sit, they need to have completed suitable learning/work ahead of time to prepare them to sit that specific paper. 

So the answer to the question of whether a student can gain NCEA (and/or U.E) via exams only needs to be worked out based on:

• What subjects they will do
• What papers are within the exams they will sit, and which ones they will be prepared for/ready to sit
• The total number of credits available this way

Schools are not the only organisations which provide programmes where students can gain credits. Pretty much any institution or training provider that provides recognised training will have their courses based on recognised standards which are attached to credits on the NZQF. These credits will be at various levels, starting at Level 1 and going through to much higher levels. Completing any approved standards with an agency who has consent to assess/access will give your student additional credits which will be added to their learning record and are included in their overall attainments. 

Some ways that students may gain credits and/or complete NCEA other than via secondary schools include:

• STAR courses - these are short (around 4 month) courses offered by various providers. STAR stands for "Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource" and most of these courses are offered by universities or polytechs to secondary students. While websites may say there are no fees, that applies to students enrolled in schools, as govt funding for STAR courses is provided through schools. Home educating families will have to pay for these courses if they wish their students to enroll. These courses are for capable Year 12&13 students and are at first year university level. 
• Gateway courses - these are structured workplace-based learning programmes for Year 11-13 students, typically overseen by Industry Training Organisations (ITOs). Again, they are funded for students in school, but home educators need to pay for them. An example would be MITO's StartUp programme, where students would spend time in an automotive workplace (parents need to arrange this), usually one day per week. They would have specific coursework/assignments to complete, and there are specific activities they have to complete and be assessed on by a suitable workplace supervisor and/or ITO assessor. 
• Foundation Studies - these are courses via tertiary providers aimed at school leavers who have not completed NCEA Levels 1 or 2. Generally these are not ideal for secondary students, as they really are aimed at adults with little educational background, and the content may not be very interesting. For this reason, some providers, such as Open Polytech, will no longer allow home educated students to enroll in these courses, but some providers may still do so. 
• Enrolling in Te Kura under the Young Adult gateway - this is free for 16-19 year olds who are not enrolled in school, and enables students to work towards NCEA. If a home educated students is enrolled full time in Te Kura (3 or more subjects) their exemption and homeschooling supervision allowance ends, but on the other hand, they are then eligible for funded access to STAR and Gateway courses. Working via Te Kura is also good for students who don't want to sit exams, but wish to gain NCEA via internal assessment only. This is possible for most levels of NCEA, though it may be more difficult to attain U.E via internal assessment only, due to the need to gain at least 14 credits in each of 3 approved subjects. 
• Pre-trade and primary industry courses - these are full time programmes for students who are 16+ (15yos with exemptions may be accepted), in which the students are attending in person, working on both practical and academic requirements. They are aimed at students wanting to attain Level 2 and the skills to enter an apprenticeship or similar. There are various providers around the country. Some providers also offer shorter distance courses to give students a taste and help them gain a few credits. 
• Additional credit-earning courses. Many short courses in various things have some credits attached. For example, completing a St John first aid course would gain the student some credits. There is a directory of education providers HERE - once you see who is on it, you can look up the websites of the ones you are interested in to find out more about what they offer. 

NCEA is the NZ state high school qualification. Gaining NCEA is a means to an end, not an end in itself. When considering whether your student needs NCEA, and how to access it, think about what they are wanting to do AFTER they finish high school, and what they need to be able to pursue this. Not all students need to complete NCEA. They may wish to gain an alternative high school qualification, or just need to complete enough credits to demonstrate they have what it takes to move on to whatever is next for them. 

NCEA credits can only be gained on work that is assessed and recorded by an approved education or training provider, who are deemed to have "consent to assess" (the work) and "consent to access" (the qualifications framework). Credits are attached to units of work, known as "standards" which may be internally or externally assessed. Home educated students can have an arrangement with a local high school to act as a "link school" for assessment purposes; most often they are only willing to do so for external assessments (exams). 

Students can also gain credits by completing courses through alternative institutions and/or training providers.

Getting to grips with NCEA and how it all works is akin to learning a whole new language. Don't be discouraged if you found some of the terms used above confusing, or you are having trouble wrapping your head around how it all comes together. This takes time! The same can be said for any qualification system - they each have their own terms, requirements and processes.  

I hope that the above information has given you something of an overview of how NCEA works and how it can be accessed for home educated students. 

It's important to understand that a high school qualification is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Once a student has finished school, and gone out into the world, gaining other meaningful experience or qualifications, what they did in high school becomes of little relevance. The point of a high school qualification, other than to validate their education, is to unlock doors - to university, other tertiary studies, apprenticeships, and/or employment.

But, it is not necessarily essential to have high school qualifications to access those things. There are other options, which I will explore in future articles. For now, let's acknowledge that gaining high school qualifications, because they provide recognisable evidence of learning, is generally the easiest way to gain access to the above, where such qualifications are usually needed. 

If your child is NOT likely to want or need to enter tertiary education, then they may not need a qualification at all. It may be that a more general programme of learning and life skills will suit them better. However, until you know this for sure, it is usually wiser and better to assume they will want to gain qualifications, and set them up with the skills and knowledge and options they need to do so. 

While there are a number of recognised options for University Entrance (U.E)*, five of them are readily accessible to home educators in one way or another. These are:

• NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) - the state school qualification. I'll discuss this in more depth shortly. 
• Cambridge Exams - these are external exams which can be sat by home educators as a Private Candidate. Specific coursework (using suitable text/workbooks from an available selection) needs to be completed to prepare for the exams. IGCSE exams are typically sat at year 11, and A levels at Years 12/13. An A level with a certain number of points meets the U.E requirements of NZ universities. There are options to study Cambridge via an international distance provider, independently (a tutor strongly recommended for A levels), or via registering with a NZ private distance school (there are currently 2 offering Cambridge - Crimson Global, and 3H international - both quite costly, and voiding an exemption). 
• CENZ (Christian Education NZ) Level 3 Certificate - this is available through Homeschooling NZ (and some NZ Christian schools), and is an excellent programme of learning which combines meeting specific requirements with individual choices from various curriculum options and elective courses (including ACE, Abeka, Apologia, Lifepac, Saxon, Math U See and much, much more). Work from Years 9-13 all counts towards the certificate requirements, though there are adjustments for late starters and those with high diagnostic test scores. 
• ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) Level 3 Certificate - similar to the CENZ Certificate, except that it is based strongly on the ACE curriculum - at least 75% of all credit work must be ACE. This is available through Accelerate, the distance learning arm of SCEE in Australia; it is also offered by some NZ Christian schools, including a distance programme option from Amana. 
• GED/SAT tests - these are American tests which are accessible in NZ, and the combined suitable scores from these are recognised by the Universities for U.E. These tests are usually sat in Year 13 - prior to that, a student does a general programme of learning of your choice, and then prior to sitting the exams does 6-12 months of specific preparation work. See Lime Feather Learning for more info (formerly Learning Set Free). 

* Any qualification recognised for university entrance is generally also recognisable by other tertiary providers or potential employers - and/or you can use a transcript with details of what has been studied from either of these to present to a potential employer or course provider. 

Note: throughout this article where I mention the option of distance learning from a NZ registered private school, should you choose this option, you will NOT need a homeschooling exemption (and if you have one it will be voided, the same as enrolling in any registered NZ school). I'm including these options for those who might want to consider them, or who are considering homeschooling/home learning for their teen but not yet got an exemption. The one overseas distance provider I mention DOES require an exemption, as they are not a NZ registered school. Enrolling in Te Kura as a fee paying student DOES require an exemption, even though it's a registered NZ school. 

As NCEA is the standard NZ school system qualification, a lot of families assume this is what their child should or needs to do, or they simply want to carry on with it if their child has transitioned to homeschooling during their high school years. While fully understanding NCEA is a topic too big for this article (and it is important to really get your head around it if you choose that route), here I will attempt to give a very, very brief summary, and, more importantly, explain  how it is accessed by home educators, as this is not entirely straightforward. 

​Please note: the NCEA system is in a state of transition. New requirements will be in place from 2024 (for Level 1), and so this overview will outline the current (I'll call it "old") system and the new - which applies to your child, will depend on in which year they will be completing each level. Any student starting Level 1 from 2024 onwards will be under the new system. Any student who started sooner, and/or is doing Level 2 in/before 2024 and Level 3 in/before 2025, will be under the old system (it's not as totally cut-and-dried as that, but I'm keeping it simple). 

Under both systems, NCEA has 3 levels. To gain University Entrance, students must achieve NCEA Level 3, with a certain number of credits in relevant subject, and also complete required literacy/numeracy standards. 

When student complete units of work to a suitable standard, they are awarded a given number of credits. Each unit of work may have varying numbers of credit attached, though they are typically 3-4 each. A full year's work in one subject is typically worth around 20 credits, though students don't have to complete all available work of any given subject to gather enough credits to pass a level. 

Old (present) system:

• Level 1: achieve 80 credits at any level (1,2 or 3), including 10 literacy and 10 numeracy credits from approved standards. Gaining Level 1 is optional - it is not required in order to do Level 2.
• Level 2: 60 credits at Level 2 or above + 20 credits from any level (these are also known as "carry over credits" as they may be credits already achieved at Level 1). Level 1 literacy and numeracy requirements must also be met (may have been done prior) - so these often comprise the 20 extra credits. 
• Level 3: 60 credits at Level 3 or above, plus 20 credits from Level 2 or above (again, "carry over credits"). Level 1 literacy and numeracy requirements must also have been met. 
• Current U.E requirements with NCEA: the student must achieve ALL of the following:

​            1) Gain 14 credits in EACH of 3 approved subjects
             2) Literacy - 10 credits at Level 2 or above, including 5 credits in reading and 5 credits in writing
             3) Numeracy - 10 credits at Level 1 or above, made up of specified achievement standards or
                   a package of 3 specific numeracy unit standards. 

New system:

• Level 1 (from 2024): 60 credits at Level 1 + new lit/num co-requisite* (this level is optional)
• Level 2 (from 2025): 60 credits at Level 2 + new lit/num co-requisite*
• Level 3 (from 2026): 60 credits at Level 3 + new lit/num co-requisite*

​* See more details below. 

Key changes/points:

• Credits can no longer be "carried over"
• Each level is a 60 credit qualification
• The new literacy/numeracy co-requisite must be completed before any level of NCEA may be awarded (more below)
• All NCEA subjects are being re-built with 4 achievement standards – 2 internally assessed, 2 externally assessed – worth 20 credits total. 
• Learners can use unit standards as well as achievement standards to reach the credit requirement for each level of NCEA. They will also be able to use any skills standards set by Workforce Development Councils. The only unit standards they cannot use for the 60 credit requirement are the compulsory Literacy and Numeracy standards.
• Any changes to U.E requirements under the new system have not yet been made clear (and likely won't be in place until 2026 when the first of the new cohort reach Level 3). 

New Literacy/Numeracy Co-Requisite
One of the most significant changes to NCEA is the new lit/num co-requisite. This needs to be completed only once, and can be done in any year from Year 9 upwards, but until it is completed, no level of NCEA will be awarded. The co-requisite is completed by sitting an external test, known as the CAA (Common Assessment Activity), which is done online, and offered, at this stage, 2x per year. This is currently being piloted, so there may be changes. There will be both Te Reo and English alternatives available.

The CAA is organised in schools. It is not yet known how home educators will be able to access the CAAs; I have a follow up conversation scheduled with the NCEA Change Team in about August when they hope to know more, after they figure out how Te Kura students will be able to do the CAAs. 

In order to achieve NCEA, a student must not only complete required work, but also have that work assessed by an approved entity, and have the gained credits added to the NZQA framework by an approved entity. Someone with the ability to do this is said to have "consent to assess" (the work) and "consent to access" (the framework). Such consent is only granted to approved secondary schools, tertiary providers, and alternative education providers. Home educators cannot do this for themselves, as they cannot/will not be granted consent. 

The only ways for a home educated student to gain NCEA therefore are:

• Study NCEA via Te Kura, the correspondence school. This is free to enroll in for students ages 16-19. Younger students with homeschooling exemptions may enroll in any number of courses on a fee-paying basis - about $1800 per subject per year (or a pro-rata amount if they turn 16 during the year of study). 
• Enroll in a private distance school which offers NCEA (would no longer be officially home educated as do not need an exemption, though would be learning at home). Currently the only one doing so is Mt Hobson Academy Connect
• Find a secondary school willing to act as a "Link School" - this can be either for external exams only (so you would prepare your student at home with suitable course work, and they would gain credits only for the external exams), or also for internal assessment, where you would submit work to the teachers and they would assess it for internal credit. While it is usually not too difficult to find a school who will allow home educated students to sit external exams at their school (they do this for Te Kura students also), it is very rare for them to agree to act as a link school for internal assessment. After all, they receive no funding for the student, and already have full workloads caring for their enrolled students. Officially it is possible, but no school is required to agree, and few will. This doesn't mean you shouldn't try though. You would need to talk go the Principal's Nominee at the school, show them THIS section of the NZQA website, and download and take them the form that is there to fill in. NOTE: Jan 2023 - NZQA have put up the new assessment rules for 2023, replacing, among other things, the 2022 rules for homeschooled students linked above. I have written up a new article with the specifics around how home educators can access NCEA HERE. 
• Cobble together or gain NCEA credits through a combo of external exams, courses from alternative providers, distance courses, foundation studies courses etc. This is a little harder than it used to be, as the Open Polytechnic will no longer enroll any student under 16, and will not enroll home educated students over 16 for their Foundation Studies courses. Other course providers may do so, though many have become a bit more tricky than in the past. (Contact me if you have issues and want some support.) Foundation Studies or bridging course are aimed at school leavers without NCEA qualifications, to give them the credits they need to go onto other courses. Variations of them are offered by a number of providers. Youth  Guarantees courses are aimed at students age 16-19 without NCEA 1 or 2 - these vary in content and how they are provided, and are available from a wide range of alternative education providers. Typically you would look for one that focuses on an area of interest - eg a pre-trade course in building for your budding carpenter, which would be designed to meet credit requirements including literacy and numeracy so that the student can successfully go on to an apprenticeship and/or related Level 3 and above study. 

If your child is younger, or not yet able to access high school qualifications, it's wise to think ahead to what they will need to have learned in order to be successful when the time comes. This should not be limited to academics - think about teaching skills and attributes like self-management, goal setting, diligence, general study skills and so on. In terms of academic preparation, here are some general pointers with the above qualification pathways in mind:

• If you intend for your child to do either the CENZ or ACE Certificates, you can enroll with their respective providers from preschool upwards, and follow the various programme options they will set out for you. Or you can select any suitable, reasonably rigorous curriculum to teach your children independently until you're ready to enroll. I would recommend that by the time they are intermediate age, you do enroll and complete the parent training and diagnostic testing, so that if your children have any gaps in their learning, you have time to work through required catch up work before they start the high school programme. Note that you MUST be enrolled and have completed parent training before your student begins any credit-level work. It is also important that you learn to use proper procedures in administering work early on, and that your children learn the requirements too, so that you don't all have to unlearn a bunch of bad habits in order to meet the strict credit requirements. HSNZ have generously made available a copy of their parent training basics which you can download HERE for parents of younger children who don't want to enroll yet - I recommend you read and apply it if you are using ACE in particular independently, or as much as applicable, any other equivalent programme for earlier learning. If you are going to use ACE, then your children need to complete diagnostic testing, and you should have someone suitably experienced help you determine their initial programme of learning (you're welcome to contact me about this). Other curriculum may include their own placement tests which should be used.
• If you are heading towards Cambridge Exams, there are also course materials available for all ages and levels, which could be used with younger students. Or again, any suitable rigorous course of study in the early years will lay the necessary foundations. Study by distance with one of the providers linked above is also an option. 
• If your student will do GED/SAT, then you can choose whatever you like during their younger years, building general literacy/numeracy and general knowledge, until they begin the specific prep courses for the exams.
• If your student will do NCEA, then a suitable broad programme of learning in primary school will suffice. You can check out the NZ curriculum documents HERE for an idea of what is typically taught in schools. If your student is high school age, then doing work using a combination of Education Perfect online platform, and resources such as Nulake Math, Sigma English and some ESA Learning Workbooks or resources from Eton Press should lay a reasonable foundation. Remember that if you are preparing them to sit external NCEA exams, you will need to know what standards are included in the exams, which you want them to sit, and provide specific applicable learning to prepare for those standards. These standards are the number codes you will see on NCEA workbooks.+

For a wide range of curriculum resource options for all ages, see my Planning Your Programme manual.

NCHENZ hosted a webinar "Navigating High School and Beyond" in April 2023. The link to the recording can be found on THIS page of the NCHENZ website. 

This has been a fairly brief look at a big topic. To summarise some main points:

• Not every student needs a formal high school qualification, but until you're sure of this, ideally prepare them to be able to gain one. Qualifications can be the simplest way to open doors to tertiary study and some employment. 
• There are five main high school qualification options (outlined above) which are reasonably accessible to home educators. Investigate the options and have a reasonable idea where you're headed as early as practicable, so you have something to aim for. You can always change course later. 
• In the primary years, either choose a programme of learning that is targeted to the qualifications you will later aim for, or ensure a broad, decent learning experience so that your student has a good foundation from which to launch. During the primary years, though, don't get TOO overfocussed on academics - these are the years to allow plenty of room for play, fun, and hands-on learning, and to take the time to pursue interesting projects and deep-dives into things of interest. Incorporate general aptitudes and character - these are at least as important as academics in preparing your student for future success. 
• In the secondary years, your student will usually have a more academic focus, working to lay necessary foundations for success at Levels 1, 2 & 3, or equivalent. 

Getting your head around high school qualifications and how they work is a big learning curve, akin to learning a whole new foreign language (and each qualification has it's own language!). Don't be overwhelmed - take it one step at a time, read up, ask questions, talk to others who have been there before you, and hang in there. Until one of your kids is actually DOING one of the above, only so much will stick - it will make more and more sense when it's put into action. 

Universities New Zealand -Te Pōkai Tara (the formal gathering of the Vice Chancellors of New Zealand’s universities) has approved a new Certificate for university entrance – the CENZ Level 3 Academic Certificate.
 
The Certificate is rated as being ad eudem statum (of equal standing to) the existing, officially-established, New Zealand common entrance standard (NCEA Level 3), and it allows families to craft a Level 3 Certificate for university entrance including as many courses as they want from whichever curriculum and whichever supplier(s) they wish that is tailored to meet each student’s specific wishes and requirements. (Note that certain course prerequisites do apply.)    

Background
The Christian Education New Zealand Foundation Trust (CENZ) is the body that oversees the work of Homeschooling NZ (HSNZ).

For the past 12 years, HSNZ has been utilising the Accelerated Christian Education (A.C.E) framework, as the ACE Level 3 Certificate is also an approved university entrance standard.

With the passage of time, however, the Trust became increasingly concerned that NZ students needed a framework that was free from A.C.E control and which would offer the maximum amount of room for each student to craft a completely personalised qualification, customised to the specific needs of their chosen vocation, workplace, or tertiary education provider.

To that end, they submitted a proposal to Universities New Zealand - Te Pōkai Tara - which has subsequently been accepted.

The CENZ Trust is now offering three Certificates:

CENZ Certificate of Academic Achievement
This certificate is fully customisable to the specific workplace or tertiary needs of the student. As such, it may contain credits at any level.
(Note that this Certificate can be easily customised for entrance to any NZ polytechnic.)

CENZ Level 3 Certificate
CENZ Level 3 Certificate (with Honours)
These two Certificates are specifically for those requiring entrance to a NZ university. They are recognised by Universities NZ – Te Pōkai Tara as an entrance standard of equal standing to NCEA Level 3.
 
Contact Homeschooling NZ for further details,
(09) 459 5626
hschool@xtra.co.nz
www.hsnz.org