- Home
- Qualifications and standards
- NCEA
-
Māori and Pasifika
- Field Māori Assessment Support Material
- Field Māori programme development support
- Mātauranga Māori qualifications and assessment standards
- Te Hono o Te Kahurangi quality assurance
- Māori providers
- Te Kōkiritanga 2020-2023
- Māori and the Future State
- Pasifika
- Ngā Kete Mātauranga
- Equity in STEM Symposium
-
Providers and partners
- About education organisations
- NZQA's quality assurance system for tertiary education organisations
- Guidelines and forms
- Consistency of graduate outcomes
- Approval, accreditation and registration
- Monitoring and Assessment
- Self-assessment
- External evaluation and review
- Assessment and moderation of standards
- Submitting results and awarding qualifications and micro-credentials
- Tertiary and International Learners Code of Practice
- Offshore use of qualifications and programmes
- Reform of Vocational Education
- International Education planning
- Rules Consultation
- international
- About us
How Covid-19 affected NZ qualifications
Most New Zealand students continued learning at home when education was disrupted in 2020 and 2021, otherwise education was mainly able to continue in normal conditions.
Impact of Covid-19 in New Zealand in 2020
New Zealand was not impacted as heavily by the Covid-19 pandemic as many other countries around the world.
We entered into a nationwide 6-week lockdown in late March 2020. During the lockdown, educational facilities were closed but most students continued learning at home.
Following that lockdown, Covid-19 was eliminated from the New Zealand community. Community life returned to relative normality, and students were able to attend educational facilities as usual.
There were two further lockdowns in Auckland that year, for around two weeks each.
How the pandemic impacted education in 2020
During New Zealand’s lockdown, schools and tertiary providers amended their programmes and most continued to deliver courses from a distance (online, or with hard copies of materials). Some providers amended their holiday schedule to reduce the impact of the lockdown on classroom activities. After the initial nationwide lockdown, most learning was completed in person, under normal conditions.
To ensure students had a fair opportunity to achieve qualifications and awards despite the pandemic, some temporary changes were made to NCEA and University Entrance (UE) for 2020, and the NCEA examinations were delayed by 10 days.
Information about changes to NCEA in 2020
Impact of Covid-19 in New Zealand in 2021
New Zealand was not impacted as heavily by the Covid-19 pandemic as many other countries, until the Delta variant entered the New Zealand community in August.
We entered into a nationwide 3-week lockdown in mid-August 2021, with the Northland, Auckland and parts of the Waikato regions remaining in lockdown for longer. During the lockdown, educational facilities were closed but most students continued learning at home.
Following that lockdown, many tertiary students continued to learn and be assessed remotely, and end of year secondary school examinations were able to be completed in person, under relatively normal conditions.
How the pandemic impacted education in 2021
During New Zealand’s lockdown, schools and tertiary providers amended their programmes and most continued to deliver courses from a distance (online, or with hard copies of materials). Some providers amended their holiday schedule to reduce the impact of the lockdown on classroom activities.
To ensure students had a fair opportunity to achieve qualifications and awards despite the pandemic, some temporary changes were made to NCEA and University Entrance (UE) for 2021, and the NCEA examinations were delayed by 7 days.
Information about changes to NCEA in 2021
Recognition of qualifications completed in 2020 and 2021
Qualifications completed in New Zealand in 2020 and 2021 are of the same standing as those completed in any other year.
Contact us
For more information or to give us feedback, email internationalunit@nzqa.govt.nz.