2025 Course fees
Certificate - $5442
Diploma Year 1 - $5629
Diploma Year 2 - $5202

How Fees Free works from 2025 – are you eligible?

The Government has announced that Fees Free for the first year of study or training will finish at the end of 2024. A final-year Fees Free policy will replace it, starting from 1 January 2025.

If you are a first-time tertiary learner in 2025, you may be able to get Fees Free for your final year of study or training. If you are eligible, you will need to apply for your entitlement through IRD from 2026 onwards.

For more information about the transition from first-year Fees Free or the final-year Fees Free policy, visit FeesFree.govt.nz.

The minimum age for entry into a Praxis course is 18.

It is recommended that you are at least 20 when starting the second year of the Level 6 Diploma.

A note around RPL: If a student wants to enter the Year 2 program through the RPL process, the student will need to complete an RPL plan. Completion of this plan does not confirm a place on the Year 2 program. All applications are received on their merit, and assessed for suitability (age, academic ability and the relationship Praxis has with the intended agency).

The majority of our teaching is done in person. You will need access to a device, we recommend a laptop or a tablet.

You will also need access to the internet. Your agency and/or Studylink (course related costs) will be able to help you with this.

The Praxis courses require each student to be based in an Agency - a school, church or community organisation that is willing to provide supervision and support as you develop your practice with young people in your community.

We can help with suggestions, but this arrangement is your responsibility and must be set up as part of your enrolment process.

The Vulnerable Children’s Act (2014) requires us to check your police record as part of the course application/approval process.

Yes. You will be required to attend a class day (cluster day) once a week and four block courses a year. You will need to have an agency placement alongside your study, which is between 16-20 hours per week.

– To operate safely and ethically as a youth worker.

– To connect and walk alongside people from different backgrounds to your own.

– To build confidence in using te reo Māori, awareness of tikanga, and the relevance of Te Tiriti O Waitangi to youth work.

– To contribute to the development of a young person and respond appropriately in a crisis.

– To look after yourself as you help others.

– To facilitate groups and work effectively with people one to one.

– To understand leadership and work as part of a team.

– A range of evidence-informed frameworks that inform youth development

– To explore your own spiritual journey and how to integrate your faith in your work.

– To develop networks in your own community for meeting the needs of young people.

In recent years over 80% of Praxis graduates have found paid work in the youth work sector. This includes roles in community organisations, government services, churches and being part of multi-disciplinary teams in health or education.

30% have continued in further study with other institutions, and many have been able to use their academic work with Praxis to gain cross credit into courses at undergraduate degree level and above. Many who graduate a Certificate level also find that they have gained in confidence and motivation around academic study.

It is quite common for a person to begin as a general youth development practitioner and then carry the skills you have learned into more specialised fields. Recent Praxis graduates have moved from youth work into; counseling, teaching, leadership in churches, outdoors leadership, management roles and overseas aid/development.