Education (National Certificate of Educational Achievement Exempted From Micro-credential Approval) Notice 2026
This notice is made under section 445(4) of the Education and Training Act 2020 by the Chief Executive of NZQA under delegated authority from the Board of NZQA.
This is the Education (National Certificate of Educational Achievement Exempted From Micro-credential Approval) Notice 2026.
This notice come into force on 30 June 2026.
In this notice, unless the context otherwise requires—
Act means the Education and Training Act 2020
NCEA means the National Certificate of Educational Achievement.
(1) This notice is given under section 445(4) of the Act.
(2) NCEA is exempted from the application of section 445 (micro-credential approval).
(1) The following notice is revoked:
(a) the notice published in the New Zealand Gazette, 29 September 2011, No. 147, page 4235 entitled Secondary School Qualification For Which Accreditation to Provide Approved Programmes or Training Scheme Approval is Not Required.
Made at Napier on this 29th day of May 2026.
Dr GRANT KLINKUM, Chief Executive of NZQA under delegated authority from the Board of NZQA.
This note is not part of this Notice but is intended to indicate its general effect.
Section 445(4) of the Education and Training Act 2020 allows NZQA to exempt secondary school qualifications from the application of section 445, which relates to micro-credential approval.
The effect of this notice is to make the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (commonly known as NCEA) exempt from micro-credential approval.
There is a similar provision in section 441(5)(a) of the Act in relation to exempting secondary school qualifications from accreditation to provide approved programmes. However, because section 439(6)(c) of the Act does not allow NCEA to be given programme approval, accreditation to provide an approved programme for NCEA is not possible. Accordingly, no notice was needed for section 441(5)(a).