How will new industry-led subjects be delivered?

Schools now know which nine industry-led subjects are being developed for Year 12 students from 2029. But who will teach them, where, and how?

Education Minister Erica Stanford and Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis announced the list in August. Industry Skills Boards will write the content. Budget 2026 gave them $15 million to develop at least eight new subjects, and the approved list has nine.

The Government says the subjects will have “parity of esteem” with English and maths. “We know students are more engaged when they can see the purpose of what they are learning and how it connects to their aspirations,” Stanford said.

PPTA Te Wehengarua president Chris Abercrombie said the union “fully support[s] industry-led subjects”, but the list was the easy part. “Announcing the subjects is far and away the simplest step,” he said. “Crucially no-one knows how delivery of the industry-led subjects alongside new Ministry of Education-led subjects will work at the school level and how enough teachers will be found for the new subjects.”

What the Ministry has said

In June, before the list was final, the Ministry of Education said the subjects would be “designed to fit within existing school structures” and “accessible to most schools and students”. Schools might teach them within the standard timetable, in their own facilities, or through partnerships with external providers. Trades academies were one option, it said, but “not the only delivery option”.

In a June Q&A for secondary leaders, it said timetabling would depend on how each school structures its own. For smaller and rural schools, it and the Industry Skills Boards are exploring readily available equipment, digital and blended learning, and simulation where specialised facilities are hard to reach.

The work is split between two bodies. Industry Skills Boards scope and design each subject, write the content and develop the assessment approach.

The Ministry sets the design criteria, leads engagement with schools and kura, and oversees approval and implementation. Between now and 2028, the boards will also design and provide resources and professional support for the subjects.

The subjects run over a full school year. How they’re assessed is still to be settled, though every subject counting towards the new certificates currently needs an exam component. Students can mix them with Ministry-led subjects, and they count towards the five subjects a year schools must enrol Year 12 and 13 students in.

To gain either new certificate, students must pass at least three subjects at the relevant year level and hold the literacy and numeracy Foundational Award. Grades run on a six-point A+ to E scale, and a C or above is a pass. The Ministry says the subjects are “not intended to be pre-trades courses or direct pipelines into specific jobs”.

One subject moved the other way in August. Outdoor Education, Akoranga tū-ā-nuku, will be Ministry-led, because it builds skills beyond any single industry.

In June, the Ministry also said it would identify resourcing and professional learning needs once the Minister confirmed the list. The August announcement said schools and teachers will be supported through implementation, but gave no detail on staffing or facilities.

Staff, space and equipment

Abercrombie said the flexibility schools rely on to run trades academies disappears when NCEA ends. Making sure students can take these subjects “regardless of whether they live in Takapuna or Twizel”, he said, “is an incredibly complex process”. “Schools, whānau and industry need to know a lot more about how this will actually work.”

Some subjects start from firmer ground than others. The Government’s notes on the nine cite existing delivery for five.

They are Construction and Built Environment, Engineering Technology, Food and Fibre Systems, Hospitality Food and Beverage, and Tourism. For the other four, Applied Intelligent Systems, Energy and Infrastructure, Health Services and Care, and Next-Gen Manufacturing, the notes point to employment prospects, economic priorities or emerging demand, and don’t mention existing delivery.

The PPTA wants the teaching workforce in place before any of the subjects arrive. Abercrombie said the union would have liked “more in the way of teacher training incentives for 2027 to really give the workforce the influx it needs”.

Where a school can’t staff a subject itself, the Ministry points to partnerships with external providers. Rosanne Graham, chief executive of workplace training provider Skills Group, said success would depend on “meaningful industry involvement and strong partnerships with tertiary providers”. “In many cases, those providers will deliver the training for schools,” she said.

Employers will be needed too. Employers and Manufacturers Association head of professional services Nick Sheppard said the EMA would encourage its members to take part in developing the subjects.

“The door has been opened and now it is important that industry steps through it,” he said. “Curriculum design is only the beginning.”

Is 2029 realistic?

Abercrombie said the detail was more urgent because “we are moving ever closer to the replacement of NCEA”. The Foundational Award, the first part of the new system, starts in 2028.

Whangaparāoa College principal Steve McCracken, who chairs PPTA’s Secondary Principals’ Council, called the subjects “a really positive step forward” but said the timing would be hard. “It’s going to be tight, and there’s going to be a significant amount of work that’s needed,” he told RNZ.

He didn’t think it was out of reach, though. “Is it too tight? No, I don’t think so. Schools always respond.”

The Ministry’s timeline has Industry Skills Boards developing the subjects through 2026 and 2027, with public consultation, and assessment design in 2027. The public consultation rounds are where schools can comment on what goes into each subject. By late 2027 the subjects are expected to be ready for formal approval and inclusion in the national curriculum.

Piloting and transition take up 2028, when the Ministry will help schools move existing programmes across and set up new ones. Year 12 students get the subjects in 2029 as part of the New Zealand Certificate of Education, and Year 13 students in 2030 under the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education.

That leaves the promised guidance on staffing and resourcing as the next thing schools are waiting for. “We want the Government to ensure that this reform is well planned and well implemented so that it can work in the very best way possible for young people and their whānau,” Abercrombie said.