New Zealand’s school attendance is lower than the OECD average, especially in upper secondary ages, with rates dropping from 70% to 50% between 2015 and 2025.
We also saw further decline for Term 3 2024 – 25.
Full attendance statistics (90% of days attended)
There are three levels of solutions:
1. Societal Leadership
At present we have a genuinely chaotic education sector for a range of reasons. Protests re the removal of treaty clauses in the Education Act, strikes, 90 high schools opposing qualifications changes (60 supporting), no support from subject organizations re curriculum changes, many in the sector calling for a slow-down in curriculum changes.
The Minister – Stanford – has led by imposing – as opposed to convincing and leading her “team”. The sector sees her as someone who has listened to a small group of international idealogues, and a couple of detached NZ “academics” and chosen to barely engage with NZ educators. She could look to blames unions, rogue Principals, Maori academics – etc – but she knew the arena, or should have, before she entered it. Promising policies do not work without carrying the sector with you.
As I have written before David Seymour is exactly the wrong person to have the Ass. Minister responsibility for Attendance. He is publicly viewed to be anti-Maori/Pasifika and I would vote him the least likely to be able to encourage any child/family to get themselves to school. His handling of the school lunch situation has been appalling. There are two choices here – either – provide really high-quality school lunches (even if they cost more) as it makes children and families feel welcome and valued – or don’t provide them at all and genuinely put responsibility on parents.
The sector, as a whole, looks like they barely care. When, under the last government, there was a select committee investigation into school attendance – only 8 schools (of 2,600) submitted – and the committee chose not to seek any broad sector investigation. I.e. We have not detailed stats on why students are not attending. Nor do we know why we have up to 10,000 students not enrolled anywhere. Reasons for non-attendance are far more readily available in Australia – and we need to catch-up. We need to know this information for EVERY schools – and tailor the response.
In 2025 ERO reported – before the Term 3 decline – that things were improving and now “only” 31% of parents are comfortable with their children missing a week or more of school each term. They also noted that the government has allocated $140m over 4 years to support improvement. That is about 1.4% of VOTE Education. In 2022 ERO did produce a reasonably good report on attendance in NZ schools.
The Ministry of Education is seen by the sector to be highly ineffective and bogged down. The appointment of a long-term Deputy Secretary – involved in all of the most significant decline period – as the Secretary for Education – does nothing to assure anyone of genuine change in the Ministry towards being more effective in overseeing the education of our children.
Long-Term Solutions.
1. As a nation we need to deeply understand our crises in parenting. If your want our education system to work well then you need to understand the “glory days” of NZ being world leading (i.e. the 1970s) was not because out schools were simply fantastic – but because family and school values were closely aligned.
We have a significant portion of parents in NZ who have failed in their own education, have no affinity for schools, were often traumatized there, and have no heritage of good parenting.
Until we make great parenting the key attribute of NZ society – many schools are on a hiding to nothing. As I have advocated previously – we need an information based Crown Entity for Parenting with the key aim of improving the development of children from conception to 5yo.
2. Schools and teachers need to be a great deal better. There is a great deal of research on the competence of NZ teachers in certain areas (e.g. Maths) that is not encouraging. Children will not come to school and engage every day – unless they see the worth of doing so. This can include having great extra-curricula provision but making participation in it dependent on attendance and classroom behaviour/performance.
3. Schools need to make ALL parents very welcome in the school at all times. There are some schools who won’t let parents passed reception. Having high-quality interactions with parents and a genuine Community Liaison Manager in schools I have operated has made the family feel a part of the school community.
4. There needs to be full recognition that a significant number of students in NZ have logistical changes to get to school. Leavers’ data shows that students from poor homes are a long way behind those from wealthy homes. It also shows rural children are behind also. I lived in the Bay of Islands for six years. Some students need to wake at 5.30 each day – take two buses and a ferry to get to school – and the same to get home. They wake up in the dark and return in the dark. We need to develop hybrid schools.
5. A few years back I visited a wonderful New York organisation called Harlem Children’s Zone. They are what this article calls a “Full Service School”. At these schools the children are cared for 7am – 7pm – and their families are deeply included. We need these in our poorer communities to break cycles that are 5 generations in the making.
6. The Minister must apologise and undo the completely facile division she has created by removing the Treaty of Waitangi clause from the Education Act. With well over half the schools already rejecting it shows the folly of listening to people like Hobson’s Pledge and Elizabeth Rata. The Minister simply did not under the sector on this and to call the school response “disgusting” just made it worse.
Short-Term Solutions
1. Seymour needs to step down from this role – or be removed. He is simply the wrong person and the results are showing it. James Meager?
2. Every school should be required to publish their attendance stats on their websites/Facebook – every week and to push the joint responsibility onto the community.
3. Where school breakfasts and lunches can make a difference – they should be well-funded and of high quality.
4. High quality broad media engagement and the value of school attendance.
5. Schools should not be allowed to take teacher-only days within the term. Each day either matters – or not.
6. Making all extra-curricular activities from sport, kapa-haka, productions, field-trips – dependent upon attendance.
7. Each school allocating 20 students per teacher for attendance and well-being monitoring. An attendance officer can have support value, but the influence of a teacher on a small group of students/families can be much greater.
8. Genuine money must be spent on broad media campaigns to “encourage” full attendance. Threatening parents with fines and jail is futile and pathetic and designed to appeal to a small section of the voting public.
Alwyn Poole, a well-known figure in the New Zealand education system, he founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. This article was published HERE
Full attendance statistics (90% of days attended)
There are three levels of solutions:
1. Societal Leadership
At present we have a genuinely chaotic education sector for a range of reasons. Protests re the removal of treaty clauses in the Education Act, strikes, 90 high schools opposing qualifications changes (60 supporting), no support from subject organizations re curriculum changes, many in the sector calling for a slow-down in curriculum changes.
The Minister – Stanford – has led by imposing – as opposed to convincing and leading her “team”. The sector sees her as someone who has listened to a small group of international idealogues, and a couple of detached NZ “academics” and chosen to barely engage with NZ educators. She could look to blames unions, rogue Principals, Maori academics – etc – but she knew the arena, or should have, before she entered it. Promising policies do not work without carrying the sector with you.
As I have written before David Seymour is exactly the wrong person to have the Ass. Minister responsibility for Attendance. He is publicly viewed to be anti-Maori/Pasifika and I would vote him the least likely to be able to encourage any child/family to get themselves to school. His handling of the school lunch situation has been appalling. There are two choices here – either – provide really high-quality school lunches (even if they cost more) as it makes children and families feel welcome and valued – or don’t provide them at all and genuinely put responsibility on parents.
The sector, as a whole, looks like they barely care. When, under the last government, there was a select committee investigation into school attendance – only 8 schools (of 2,600) submitted – and the committee chose not to seek any broad sector investigation. I.e. We have not detailed stats on why students are not attending. Nor do we know why we have up to 10,000 students not enrolled anywhere. Reasons for non-attendance are far more readily available in Australia – and we need to catch-up. We need to know this information for EVERY schools – and tailor the response.
In 2025 ERO reported – before the Term 3 decline – that things were improving and now “only” 31% of parents are comfortable with their children missing a week or more of school each term. They also noted that the government has allocated $140m over 4 years to support improvement. That is about 1.4% of VOTE Education. In 2022 ERO did produce a reasonably good report on attendance in NZ schools.
The Ministry of Education is seen by the sector to be highly ineffective and bogged down. The appointment of a long-term Deputy Secretary – involved in all of the most significant decline period – as the Secretary for Education – does nothing to assure anyone of genuine change in the Ministry towards being more effective in overseeing the education of our children.
Long-Term Solutions.
1. As a nation we need to deeply understand our crises in parenting. If your want our education system to work well then you need to understand the “glory days” of NZ being world leading (i.e. the 1970s) was not because out schools were simply fantastic – but because family and school values were closely aligned.
We have a significant portion of parents in NZ who have failed in their own education, have no affinity for schools, were often traumatized there, and have no heritage of good parenting.
Until we make great parenting the key attribute of NZ society – many schools are on a hiding to nothing. As I have advocated previously – we need an information based Crown Entity for Parenting with the key aim of improving the development of children from conception to 5yo.
2. Schools and teachers need to be a great deal better. There is a great deal of research on the competence of NZ teachers in certain areas (e.g. Maths) that is not encouraging. Children will not come to school and engage every day – unless they see the worth of doing so. This can include having great extra-curricula provision but making participation in it dependent on attendance and classroom behaviour/performance.
3. Schools need to make ALL parents very welcome in the school at all times. There are some schools who won’t let parents passed reception. Having high-quality interactions with parents and a genuine Community Liaison Manager in schools I have operated has made the family feel a part of the school community.
4. There needs to be full recognition that a significant number of students in NZ have logistical changes to get to school. Leavers’ data shows that students from poor homes are a long way behind those from wealthy homes. It also shows rural children are behind also. I lived in the Bay of Islands for six years. Some students need to wake at 5.30 each day – take two buses and a ferry to get to school – and the same to get home. They wake up in the dark and return in the dark. We need to develop hybrid schools.
5. A few years back I visited a wonderful New York organisation called Harlem Children’s Zone. They are what this article calls a “Full Service School”. At these schools the children are cared for 7am – 7pm – and their families are deeply included. We need these in our poorer communities to break cycles that are 5 generations in the making.
6. The Minister must apologise and undo the completely facile division she has created by removing the Treaty of Waitangi clause from the Education Act. With well over half the schools already rejecting it shows the folly of listening to people like Hobson’s Pledge and Elizabeth Rata. The Minister simply did not under the sector on this and to call the school response “disgusting” just made it worse.
Short-Term Solutions
1. Seymour needs to step down from this role – or be removed. He is simply the wrong person and the results are showing it. James Meager?
2. Every school should be required to publish their attendance stats on their websites/Facebook – every week and to push the joint responsibility onto the community.
3. Where school breakfasts and lunches can make a difference – they should be well-funded and of high quality.
4. High quality broad media engagement and the value of school attendance.
5. Schools should not be allowed to take teacher-only days within the term. Each day either matters – or not.
6. Making all extra-curricular activities from sport, kapa-haka, productions, field-trips – dependent upon attendance.
7. Each school allocating 20 students per teacher for attendance and well-being monitoring. An attendance officer can have support value, but the influence of a teacher on a small group of students/families can be much greater.
8. Genuine money must be spent on broad media campaigns to “encourage” full attendance. Threatening parents with fines and jail is futile and pathetic and designed to appeal to a small section of the voting public.
Alwyn Poole, a well-known figure in the New Zealand education system, he founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. This article was published HERE
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