There's concern for New Zealand students literacy and numeracy understanding

New NCEA standards for literacy and numeracy will become a co-requisite next year.

Assessment reports found many teens struggled with the skills - and some didn't know there were 60 minutes in an hour.

New Zealand Initiative senior fellow Michael Johnston says there's students that leave school without that knowledge.

He says deep problems in what kids are learning at primary school that aren't addressed at secondary school need to be addressed.