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her inform NCEA PEOPLE WHO'VE STUDIED NCEA now work in a wide variety of industries in many different countries, with many going on to study at universities around the world … so how does NCEA measure up internationally and what do the experts say about our national secondary qualification? NCEA has been around since 2002 and it was fully implemented at Years 11, 12 and 13 by 2004. PISA research One of the few global measures for success in education is PISA, which is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment. PISA has been called the gold standard in measuring student achievement. PISA's studies focus on whether 15-year-olds have the ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real life challenges, rather than mastering a specific school curriculum or academic success. PISA studies are conducted in three main areas, reading literacy skills, mathematic literacy and science literacy. These studies are conducted every three years, with the most recent in December 2010. New Zealand ranks fourth in the world in the PISA assessments, outranking Britain, Australia and America. The PISA results show that out of 34 OECD countries New Zealand recorded at Senior Secondary level: • the second highest mean score in scientific literacy 54 | December/January 2012 | HER MAGAZINE How does our national qualification for secondary school students compare internationally? • the sixth highest mean score in mathematical literacy • the third highest mean score in reading literacy. Because around 90% of New Zealand secondary schools use NCEA, the high PISA ranking strongly reflects the quality of NCEA. Preparation for further study Research undertaken by the University of Auckland's Starpath Group has looked at the predictability of enrolment and first year university results, and thus the suitability of NCEA to prepare students for university study. This study found the NCEA model is almost five times more effective in predicting first year students' Grade Point Average during their first year at university than other assessment systems. The study put this correlation between the NCEA and university success to possible similarities between the assessment in NCEA and those undertaken at first year university. In 2011, the Ministry of Education also looked at the tertiary progress of students leaving school with University Entrance and found that: • Students with NCEA Level 3 and University Entrance do better than those with University Entrance alone. • Students with University Entrance alone do better than those with lower levels of NCEA achievement. • Of all school leavers with NCEA Level 3 and University Entrance: • 82% of students commenced bachelor's degrees. • Only 9% were not involved in further study. Transportability of NCEA Today, NCEA has a number of international agreements ensuring it is accepted overseas. NZQA is part of the National Academic Recognition Information Centres (NARIC) network. NARIC deals with the mutual academic recognition of diplomas and tertiary study in the member states of the European Union, the European Economic Area, and Central and Eastern Europe. NCEA results are used to calculate the International Tertiary Admission Ranking System (ITARS). This ensures a unified approach when New Zealand school leavers apply for entry to foreign universities. Arrangements are in place for students to use their NCEA in countries such as Australia, Britain, Germany, other European countries, Thailand and India, with many students applying successfully to a number of other countries and leading universities around the world, and achieving success in all walks of life. "The reality is that a combination of Level 3 NCEA and Scholarship is getting students into top universities. We have a steady stream of boys going straight from Year 13 to top universities around the world, and many go overseas after an undergraduate degree in New Zealand," Roger Moses, Headmaster, Wellington College. www.nzqa.govt.nz