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English is still the most-widely studied subject, but has slipped from 87 to 80 percent of students.
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One in five secondary school students studied life skills or personal development courses in 2025.
Education Ministry figures show the field has grown rapidly in popularity over the past 15 years, while core subjects science and English have slipped slightly, and maths has held its share of student enrolments.
The percentage of secondary school students enrolled in ‘life skills/personal development’ grew from eight percent in 2010 to 21 percent or nearly 68,000 in 2025, with 40 percent of those being Year 9 students.
RNZ understands life skills/personal development is a general category for a range of different courses.
Study skills also increased significantly from five to 13 percent, with half of its 41,462 students in Year 13.
English was the single most-widely studied subject, taken by 80 percent of secondary school students in 2025, although that figure was down from 87 percent in 2010.
Next was maths with 67 percent of students, down from 78 percent in 2010. However, the percentage of students studying maths with statistics or maths with calculus rose from six to 10 percent, and three to six percent respectively.
Science was studied by 52 percent of students, down from 58 percent in 2010, but the percentage studying biology (11) and chemistry (9) remained constant, while physics rose from nine to 10 percent of students, and Earth science/astronomy from just a few hundred students to nearly one percent.
Social studies was studied by 35 percent of students, down from 39 percent. Geography dropped from 11 to seven percent and history moved from 10 to 11 percent.
Commerce-related subjects increased in popularity, rising from five to 12 percent of students.
Health and physical education jumped from 16 to 23 percent of students, while health dipped from 15 to 14 percent and physical education dropped from 44 to 32 percent.
The percentage of students studying te reo Māori rose from eight to 12 percent.
Visual arts dropped from 18 to 12 percent, drama from 12 to seven percent, and music/music studies from 15 to 10 percent, while dance rose from three to four percent.
Among the technology subjects, technology dropped from 14 to eight percent, while the percentage choosing food technology rose from 12 to 14 percent, graphics dropped from 12 to three percent and materials technology moved from 10 to 11 percent.
Home economics dropped from five to four percent.
Senior subject choices
A different picture emerged, when looking only at Year 12s’ subject choices – a stage of schooling where students had fewer compulsory courses than earlier years, and options likely to be linked to tertiary study or potential future areas of work.
English remained popular with 80 percent of students enrolled, but that was down from 93 percent in 2010.
It was closely followed by the three maths subjects, with 46 percent of Year 12s enrolled in maths, 20 percent in maths with statistics and 10 percent in maths with calculus.
A significant proportion studied at least one science – 31 percent studied biology, 27 percent physics, and 25 percent chemistry in 2025.
One in five Year 12 students studied physical education and nine percent studied outdoor education.
Commerce-related subjects attracted 13 percent of Year 12s in 2025, double the percentage in 2010, and 10 percent of Year 12s studied economics.
History attracted 14 percent of Year 12s – about the same as in 2010 – religious studies 12 percent and geography 10 percent.
Nine percent of Year 12s enrolled in study skills courses, 11 percent in transition/pre-employment courses and 13 percent in life skills/personal development.
Food technology was studied by 12 percent of Year 12s and materials technology by 10 percent.
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