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Alwyn Poole
Began teaching in 1991. TBC, HBHS, St Cuths. Founded/led Mt Hobson MS–18 years. Co-founded SAMS and MSWA. Econs degree, Masters in Edn, tchg dip, post grad dip – sport.
At last count, 10,000 5- to 13-year-olds in NZ were not enrolled anywhere and no one was actively looking for them.
- Approx 11,000 children are home-schooled. These children are not ‘truant’ but it does indicate an amount of disengagement with our state system.
- Term 3 2025 attendance data showed a statistically significant decline on term 3 2024.
Daily attendance statistics in term 4 2025 showed more decline:
“The government wanted 80 per cent of students attending more than 90 per cent of their classes – the benchmark for regular attendance. To reach that goal, daily attendance needed to reach and remain at 94 per cent, but the highest point reached in term four was 90 per cent, with 88–89 percent recorded often and average daily attendance of 85 per cent, similar to term three.”
- Australia considers themselves to be in deep crisis mode with attendance, as their full attendance (students attending 90 per cent of the time) is at 60 per cent. Ours is at 50 per cent.
These comments are important:
“We can’t nudge our way out of this crisis. Australia needs a wholesale rethink of how to get children back into the classroom. We are not alone. Many countries have had problems getting school attendance to where it needs to be. But some have taken the issue far more seriously than us. England is one such country we can learn from. Students in England attend school 94 per cent of the time, compared to Australia’s 89 per cent. England has made attendance a national priority, driving a relentless public messaging campaign to elevate the importance of school attendance, radically increasing the transparency of attendance data, setting higher expectations for families and schools, and adopting a whole-of-government approach to tackle barriers to attendance.”
As I have said many times, curriculum changes, “structured literacy”, etc – can only produce marginal gains if the children who need help the most are attending school irregularly – at best.
Just released NCEA/UE cohort data (as opposed to leavers’ data that comes out later) shows a small improvement in Level one NCEA but declines in Level two NCEA and UE (key indicators).
Education in NZ in 2026 needs a great deal of work – from attendance to achievement. Let’s hope.
This article was originally published by Education – the Absolute Best Ways.
