From compliance to commitment: Leading engagement with NCEA literacy and numeracy

Wonderfully, our mahi in secondary schools and kura this year has identified both the need and the desire for leaders to lean into the changes ahead. While achieving this shift isn’t easy, it matters! Literacy and numeracy are more than skills, they’re gateways to equity, confidence, and opportunity.

This is especially important now because Aotearoa’s secondary education landscape is changing, and it’s more than just a new set of assessments. The NCEA literacy and numeracy co-requisites (CAAs) ask for something deeper - a commitment to ensuring every learner leaves school with the foundational skills to thrive. It’s not about ticking boxes or chasing pass rates. It’s about creating the conditions where every young person, no matter their background, can succeed.

As leaders you’re not just managing change, you’re leading it. So, lead in a way that lifts everyone!

What gets in the way

One of the biggest blocks to progress often isn’t the students, it’s the assumptions we as adults carry. Some kaiako still see literacy and numeracy as "not their job," or fear the change is yet another add-on. These beliefs don’t come from nowhere. They’re rooted in teachers lived experiences, workloads, and the mental models they’ve built over time. As Viviane Robinson (Leading by Learning) reminds us, leaders need to guide change through a dialogic process, not just persuasion. It’s tempting to push through resistance, but real change happens when leaders understand the beliefs beneath the behaviours. Instead of bypassing teachers’ thinking, engage with it, respectfully, honestly, and collaboratively. Ask: What’s the story behind the resistance? What assumptions might be blocking progress in our school?

Balancing leadership lenses

“There are many reasons why leaders’ change efforts do not lead to improvement, but the reasons I am interested in are those that lie within the control of leaders themselves.” Viviane Robinson, 2018

Being able to hold challenge and connection in balance is a real leadership skill. Direction is important, but so are the conditions that enable growth.

• Pedagogical leadership provides the structure - setting goals, ensuring quality teaching, resourcing wisely.

• Relational leadership provides the soul - connecting through respect, care, and cultural responsiveness.

Together, they create a space where kaiako feel both safe and stretched. And remember - you can’t lead others through change unless you’re willing to learn and grow yourself. Lead yourself for learning first, then others, then the organisation.

Melanie Riwai-Couch (Niho Taniwha) reminds us that leadership flows through whakawhanaungatanga - building a sense of whānau across the school community.

“People who may not be related through whakapapa still relate to each other as if they are part of a whānau. They care for each other, and respect what each other person brings to the joint project.” Melanie Riwai-Couch, 2021

Leaders should build strong relationships as a foundation and set high expectations as the catalyst. Together, they can create the conditions for success. Before tackling pedagogy, leaders should first strengthen relationships, with both kaiako and whānau, recognising that change flows through trust.

Taking your team with you

If you’re wondering how to get everyone in the waka and paddling in the same direction, start with shared agreements. Your literacy and numeracy action plan isn’t just a document; it’s the anchor for your team’s collective mahi. Refer back to it often.

When someone veers off course, it’s not a confrontation, it’s a conversation: “We agreed to…” “I noticed…” “Tell me a little bit about…” “What might we do now?” This builds transparency, trust, and accountability. It also helps to talk openly about the discomfort of change. Use tools like the ‘learning pit’ to normalise the messiness of growth. Let your team see you in it too, being vulnerable, being a learner, and remaining committed.

Joan Dalton (Leading Adult Learning) encourages leaders to set aside their own feelings, perceptions and judgments, and to listen deeply. Doing so builds the trust and respect needed to move forward together.

Using data for equity

The 2025 CAA results show some promising movement, but the equity gaps remain stark. In low-decile schools, only around a third of students passed. That’s not just a statistic; that’s our why.

Data is powerful, but only if it tells a story kaiako can hear, understand and own. It’s not about numbers in isolation. It’s about weaving together assessment results, student voice, classroom observations, and professional conversations.

Celebrate the wins, even the small ones. Identify the learners who need extra support. Map where that support can happen across subjects. And always, always bring it back to the student; ākonga are at the centre of learning.

From intention to action

Strategic and deliberate action is what turns good intentions into real outcomes. If you’re not already using a focused action plan, now’s the time. Start with the outcome you want to see, look at your baseline, then work backwards. Ask - What needs to shift in leadership thinking and practice? How will this improve the classroom experience for ākonga? Who’s responsible? How will we know it’s working?

The most effective plans are simple, focused, and lived. They’re revisited often, adapted as you learn what works, and used to drive PLD, teaching inquiries, and leadership kōrero. They’re how we move from compliance to commitment.

Closing thought

"Mā te huruhuru, ka rere te manu.

Adorned with feathers, the bird can fly."

As leaders, our role is to help kaiako find their feathers, so that together, our learners can fly.

If you have any questions about this article

Contact Deirdre McCracken