Quality Statement

Label
Qualifications: Highest secondary school qualification - 2023 Census: Information by concept en-NZ
Definition

A qualification is a formally recognised award for educational or training attainment. Formal recognition means that the qualification is approved by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority or any formally recognised existing approval body in New Zealand or overseas, or any previous approval body.

A qualification is defined as requiring full-time equivalent study of three months or more. Study time is an estimate of the typical time it takes a learner to achieve the learning outcomes of the qualification. This includes direct contact time with teachers and trainers, as well as time spent studying, assignments, and assessment.

The qualifications concept includes:

Highest secondary school qualification: This is the highest secondary school qualification gained by category of attainment.

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Overall quality rating

Moderate quality
Data quality processes section below has more detail on the rating.

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Priority level

Priority level 2
A priority level is assigned to all census concepts: priority 1, 2, or 3 (with 1 being highest and 3 being the lowest priority).
Highest secondary school qualification is a priority 2 concept. Priority 2 concepts cover key subject populations that are important for policy development, evaluation, or monitoring. These concepts are given second priority in terms of quality, time, and resources across all phases of a census.
The census priority level for highest secondary school qualification remains the same as 2018.
The 2023 Census: Final content report has more information on priority ratings for census concepts.

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Subject population

Census usually resident population count aged 15 years and over
‘Subject population’ means the people, families, households, or dwellings that the variable applies to.

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How this data is classified

Highest secondary school qualification data is classified into the following categories:

Census secondary school qualification classification V2.0.0 – level 1 of 2

Code Category
0 No qualification
1 Level 1 certificate
2 Level 2 certificate
3 Level 3 or 4 certificate
4 Overseas secondary school qualification
9 Not elsewhere included

Highest secondary school qualification uses a 2-level hierarchical classification with the level 1 categories presented in the table above.

The level 1 residual category “Not elsewhere included” contains the residual categories ‘Don’t know’, ‘Refused to answer’, ‘Response unidentifiable’, ‘Response outside scope’ and ‘Not stated’.

Follow the link above the table to examine the classification.

The 2023 Census classification for highest secondary school qualification is consistent with that used in 2018 Census.

Standards and classifications has information on what classifications are, how they are reviewed, where they are stored, and how to provide feedback on them.

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Question format

Highest secondary school qualification data is collected on the individual form (question 31 paper form).

There were differences in the way a person could respond between the modes of collection (online and paper forms).

On the online form:

  • the highest secondary school qualification question had as-you-type functionality which helped respondents provide a valid response in the text field for ‘other secondary school qualification gained in New Zealand’
  • built-in routing functionality directed individuals to the appropriate questions. Those under 15 and overseas visitors could not answer the qualifications questions
  • only one response could be chosen from the options presented.

On the paper form:

  • respondents could skip the question, provide invalid responses, or tick multiple boxes resulting in a missing or residual response
  • those outside the subject population could answer the highest secondary school qualification question. These are filtered out by using the correct subject population.

Data from the online forms may therefore be of higher overall quality than data from paper forms. However, processing checks and edits were in place to improve the quality of the paper form data.

Stats NZ Store House has samples for both the individual and dwelling paper forms.

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Examples of how this data is used

Data-use outside Stats NZ:

  • to measure the impact of educational reforms on qualification attainment, and to identify where reform is needed
  • to track long-term changes in the levels of qualification in the general population, to determine teacher supply projections, and to prepare qualification profiles for planning
  • to research differences in educational attainment between different demographic groups, and the link between educational attainment and socio-economic outcomes.

Data-use by Stats NZ:

  • in combination with post-school qualification level of attainment to derive highest qualification.
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Data sources

Alternative data sources were used for missing and residual census responses and responses that could not be classified or did not provide the type of information asked for. The table below shows the distribution of data sources for highest secondary school qualification data.

Data sources for highest secondary school qualification, as a percentage of census usually resident population count aged 15 years and over, 2023 Census
Source of highest secondary school qualification data Percent
2023 Census response 83.3
Historical census 8.3
 2018 Census 5.6
 2013 Census 2.6
Admin data 5.0
Deterministic derivation 0.0
Statistical imputation 0.0
No information 3.4
Total 100.0
Note: Due to rounding, individual figures may not always sum to the stated total(s).

Where appropriate, the 2018 and 2013 Censuses as well as admin data from the Ministry of Education were used to fill in missing information. If information varied across these data sources, the data source with the highest qualification was the one used.

Editing, data sources, and imputation in the 2023 Census describes how data quality is improved by editing and how missing and residual responses are filled with alternative data sources (admin data and historical census responses) or statistical imputation. This webpage also contains a spreadsheet that provides additional detail on the admin data sources.

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Missing and residual responses

Missing and residual responses represent data gaps where respondents either did not provide answers (missing responses) or provided answers that were not valid (residual responses).

Where possible, alternative data sources have been used to fill missing and residual responses in the 2013 and 2018 Censuses.

Percentage of ‘Not stated’ for the census usually resident population count aged 15 years and over:

  • 2023: 3.4 percent
  • 2018: 5.9 percent
  • 2013: 8.4 percent

For output purposes, the residual category responses are grouped with ‘Not stated’ and are classified as ‘Not elsewhere included’.

Percentage of ‘Not elsewhere included’ for the census usually resident population count aged 15 years and over:

  • 2023: 3.5 percent
  • 2018: 6.3 percent
  • 2013: 9.7 percent
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Data quality processes

Overall quality rating: Moderate
Data has been evaluated to assess whether it meets quality standards and is suitable for use.

Three quality metrics contribute to the overall quality rating:

  • data sources and coverage
  • consistency and coherence
  • accuracy of responses.

The lowest rated metric determines the overall quality rating.

Data quality assurance in the 2023 Census provides more information on the quality rating scale.

Data sources and coverage: Moderate quality
The quality of all the data sources that contribute to the output for the variable were assessed. To calculate the data sources and coverage quality score for a variable, each data source is rated and multiplied by the proportion it contributes to the total output.

The rating for a valid census response is defined as 1.00. Ratings for other sources are the best estimates available of their quality relative to a census response. Each source that contributes to the output for that variable is then multiplied by the proportion it contributes to the total output. The total score then determines the metric rating according to the following range:

  • 0.98–1.00 = very high
  • 0.95–<0.98 = high
  • 0.90–<0.95 = moderate
  • 0.75–<0.90 = poor
  • <0.75 = very poor.

For highest secondary school qualification, the proportion of data received from 2023 Census forms and the moderate quality of alternative data sources has resulted in a score of 0.92, leading to a quality rating of moderate.

Data sources and coverage rating calculation for highest secondary school qualification data, census usually resident population count aged 15 years and over, 2023 Census
Source for highest secondary school qualification data Rating Percent Score contribution
2023 Census response 1.00 83.34 0.83
2018 Census 0.83 5.62 0.05
2013 Census 0.61 2.64 0.02
Admin data 0.57 5.03 0.03
No information 0.00 3.37 0.00
Total 100.00 0.92
Note: Due to rounding, individual figures may not always sum to the stated total(s) or score contributions.

Consistency and coherence: High quality
Highest secondary school qualification data is consistent with expectations across nearly all consistency checks, with some minor variation from expectations or benchmarks which makes sense due to real-world change, incorporation of other sources of data, or a change in how the variable has been collected.

Data aligns with historical trends with some variations. This can be attributed to the net migration gain in the second half of 2022 driven by non-New Zealand citizens. This was following the progressive relaxation of COVID-19-related border restrictions and coinciding with changes to immigration settings.

Accuracy of responses: High quality
Highest secondary school qualification data has only minor data quality issues. The quality of coding and responses within classification categories is high. Any issues with the variable appear in a low number of cases (typically in the low hundreds).

Improvement in scanning repair for paper forms reduced the number of responses needing to be sourced from alternative sources.

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Recommendations for use and further information

Highest secondary school qualification data can be used in a comparable manner to the 2018 and 2013 Censuses.

When using this data, users should be aware that:

  • it is difficult to distinguish between secondary school qualifications and post-school qualifications for national certificate level 1-3 sourced from admin data
  • it is recommended that all categories of the classification should be used in time series comparisons so the residual counts in previous years will be clear.

Comparisons to other data sources
Although surveys and sources other than the census collect highest secondary school qualification data, data users are advised to familiarise themselves with the strengths and limitations of the sources before use.

Census aims to be a national count of all individuals in a population while other surveys (such as the Household Economic Survey, Household and Labour Force Survey and the General Social Survey) measuring this variable are only based on a sample of the population.

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Information by variables from previous censuses

To assess how this concept aligns with the variables from the previous census, use the links below:

Contact our Information centre for further information about using this concept.

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Information

History

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Revision Date Responsibility Rationale
21 26/09/2024 10:00:57 AM