More than 10,000 teens left school in 2025 with no qualifications

A jump in the number of teens leaving school with no formal qualifications has continued.Education Ministry figures show 15 percent of last year's school leavers had no NCEA certificate or equivalent qualification - the same figure as the previous two years and worse than the pre-Covid figure of 10-11 percent.It means 10,473 teens left school in 2025 with no NCEA certificate or other qualification.At schools in the poorest neighbourhoods more than a quarter of leavers had nothing.The figures showed 78 percent of last year's leavers had at least NCEA level two (a one percentage point increase), and 59 percent had level three (up three percentage points).The percentage of Māori and Pacific leavers with level two increased slightly to 63 and 74 percent respectively.The percentage of Māori and Pacific leavers with at least level three increased three percentage points to 41 percent and 53 percent respectively.The figures showed 18 percent of last year's leavers did not meet the NCEA literacy and numeracy co-requisite.Though 85 percent met the literacy requirement and 85 percent met the numeracy requirement, only 82 percent met both.At schools facing the highest levels of socio-economic disadvantage 73 percent met the numeracy requirement and 74 percent the literacy but only 68 percent met both.