Source: New Zealand Government
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says that new up-to-date attendance data is helping provide fresh insights into student attendance. For example, data for the first week of term 2 shows the effect of wild weather and which regions were standouts.
The average attendance across week 1 is 87.1 per cent.
“The daily school attendance dashboard kicked off this year. It facilitates the daily recording and publication of student attendance, meaning data for week one of term 2 is already available,” says Mr Seymour.
“It’s pretty clear that areas hit worst by the stormy weather had significant drop offs towards the end of the week. For example, Canterbury and Chatham Islands recorded 90.2% on the first two days of term but dropped to 76.9% on Thursday when the storm hit. I expect attendance to increase again with better forecasts next week.
“The dashboard provides region-specific data and insights. Over the school holidays I wrote to all mayors across New Zealand urging them to check out their region’s statistics so they can help raise awareness and spark local action.
“My letter didn’t ask them to spend money, or hire more bureaucrats, or make more rules. All it asked was for community leaders to play a positive role encouraging young people to get to school.
“My goal is that all of us take ownership of the attendance problem, because in the long term, all of us will pay for it if children aren’t educated and prepared for the 21st century.
“I congratulate students in the Otago region, who were the most eager to return to school. On Monday, the first day of term 2, 91.7% of students were at school. The Nelson region wasn’t far behind them on 91.5%.
“Thanks to the daily data, we can finally start to see trends in attendance as they occur. This is going to help educators, parents, community leaders, and the Government target areas in need and more effectively support students back to school.
“Green shoots are present, and we need to keep building on them. In every term in 2024 attendance improved on the same term in 2023. The Government will work with students, parents and educators to build on this.
“There is still more work to do. The Government’s attendance target is 80 per cent of students present for more than 90 per cent of the term. To reach this goal, daily attendance rates of 94 per cent are required. No region achieved this on any day this week. I will be announcing more on how we can help progress further towards our target in weeks to come.
“It will be mandatory for schools to have their own attendance management plan, such as the Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) in place by Term 1 of 2026.
“The basic premise of our flagship STAR is that no child is left behind.
This means every day at school is important, and interventions will follow if absences build up. This could mean consequences for the most uncooperative parents. I would like to acknowledge the work of the 67 per cent of schools who have already in engaged in some form of STAR.
“Attending school is the first step towards achieving positive educational outcomes. Positive educational outcomes lead to better health, higher incomes, better job stability and greater participation within communities. These are opportunities that every student deserves.”
Attendance data can be found here Attendance | Education Counts
