Guest Post: Truancy is all too familiar

Cooper Reed posts on NZ Intiative

All my friends sometimes skip school. For my school ‘think tank’ project, I decided to explore why they do so, and to propose some ideas for reducing the behaviour.

My friends are not alone. In 2023, only 46% of students nationally regularly attended school. That means that more than half missed at least one day per fortnight without a good reason. Earlier this month, the Education Review Office reported that 10% of New Zealand’s students are chronically absent.