School leavers with higher level qualifications
International comparisons
The OECD’s Education at a Glance 2007 publication provides one international comparison of secondary attainment by reporting the proportion of upper secondary “graduates” to the total population at the typical age of graduation. (1)
The publication reports that 72 percent of the New Zealand population held an upper secondary qualification at this age, compared to an OECD mean of 82 percent.
However, this data should be interpreted with caution as an NCEA Level 2 qualification is structured such that it is a slightly higher level qualification than the standard OECD “upper secondary” level qualification.
Notes
1. OECD, Education at a Glance 2007, Table A2.1. “Graduations” for New Zealand consist of students at secondary school level and those from post-school programmes at ISCED-3 (International Standard Classification of Education level 3) level. ISCED-3 corresponds to the final stage of secondary education in most OECD countries and is usually undertaken at age 15 or 16.
