In Finland tenth grade is usually known as the first year of high School ("Lukio" in Finnish and "Gymnasiet" in Swedish).
Some schools also offer NCEA alternatives, like the International General Certificate of Secondary Education.
It was also the last year of the High School (Filipino: Mataas na Paaralan) stage, as well as basic compulsory education in the country.
General education certificates will be awarded if the pupils sit the end of year examinations, called GCSEs.
Results of at least five 5 grades are considered a pass and many employers require their staff to have at least 5s in GCSE, including English and Maths.
A new English Baccalaureate has been introduced; this is awarded to students who achieve a 9 to 5 in five subjects: English (literature and language), maths, science (either combined science (2 GCSEs) or three from physics, chemistry, biology and computer science), a humanities subject (history or geography) and a modern or ancient language.