School truancy up, attendance down
‘‘The unjustified absence (truancy) rate is 4.5 per cent, just below the record level of 4.6 per cent in 2014.’’
Each day last year more than 76,000 New Zealand students were absent from school, as truancy rates rose across the country.
The latest Ministry of Education attendance survey has found the percentage of students attending school regularly decreased in Term 2, 2016, compared with the same time the previous year.
The report, released in June, is based on student attendance data from 630,000 students, collected from state and integrated schools over the second term.
It showed the total national ‘‘absence rate’’ - both those playing truant and those with a legitimate reason for being off school - accounted for 10.2 per cent, or 76,500 students per day, an increase from 9.9 per cent in 2015.
The unjustified absence (truancy) rate is 4.5 per cent, just below the record level of 4.6 per cent in 2014.
The frequent truant rate - students who were unjustifiably absent for three or more days - also rose in 2016 from 1.2 to 1.4 per cent.
The Ministry of Education report also showed an increase in students going on holiday during term time: considered an unjustifiable absence.
Approximately 36,000 students took some term time off for family holidays during Term 2 last year. These holidays averaged 9.5 halfdays in duration, nearly a full week of school.
Asian students made up the majority of students taking holidays during term time, followed by Middle Eastern, Latin American or African (a group given the acronym MELAA) and then Pakeha students.
The percentage of students with very low levels of attendance, less than 75 per cent of all half-days, was highest in Te Tai Tokerau.
Nationally, Asian students had the highest rates of regular attendance in 2016, at 77 per cent. Pakeha and MELAA students followed at 70.5 per cent and 69.4 per cent, respectively.
Maori students reported the lowest attendance rates, with only 54.7 per cent of students regularly attending school. Pasifika students had a slightly higher rate, at 57.2 per cent.
All state and state integrated schools were invited to participate in the 2016 survey.