David Farrar: ERO on chronically absent students

An excellent report by the ERO on chronically absent students, being this who are absent for more than three weeks every term. So this isn’t kids who have a week off for sickness, or a week off on an overseas holiday. It is kids who are attending less than 70% of the time – missing 12 weeks a year.

Some key details:

• One in 10 students (10 percent) were chronically absent in Term 2, 2024, double the level of 2015

• Students who are chronically absent are four times as likely to have a recent history of offending

• 55% of students chronically absent do not achieve NCEA Level 2 and 92% do not achieve UE

• Only 43 percent of parents and whānau with a child who is chronically absent have met with school staff about their child’s attendance.

• One in five school leaders (18 percent) only refer students after more than 21 consecutive days absent

• Only 22 schools make up 10 percent of the total chronic absence nationally, so under 1% of schools make up 10% of chronic absences.

• Students in schools in lower socio-economic areas are six times more likely to be chronically absent but there are 95 schools in low socio-economic communities with less than a 10 percent rate of chronic absence (so it is a factor, not an excuse)

The cost to the kids, and society, of such high rates are massive.

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Note that lockdowns only occurred in 2020 and 2021. However in hindsight the decision to close schools was a very bad one, as it normalised non-attendance.

David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.