This thesis is a study of the political literacy of two groups of secondary school students; seventh formers and third formers. The purpose of the study is to provide information about the level of political knowledge, skills and attitudes of seventeen to eighteen year old students who are approaching voting age, and thirteen to fourteen year old students, completing their first year of secondary school. A total of 243 students at five secondary schools in Canterbury were surveyed, using a self-completion, multi- choice questionnaire. Random sampling techniques were not used in the selection of the respondents, so the statistical validity of the survey is limited. Political literacy studies have been undertaken in several countries, but to my knowledge there has been no such empirical research conducted in New Zealand.