Stand-down rate for students in New Zealand schools
By region, 2024, age-standardised number of stand-downs per 1,000 students
| Region | Age-standardised number of stand-downs per 1,000 students |
|---|---|
| Northland | 52 |
| Auckland | 29.7 |
| Waikato | 53.9 |
| Bay of Plenty | 37.4 |
| Gisborne | 31.7 |
| Hawke's Bay | 33.6 |
| Taranaki | 41.7 |
| Manawatū-Whanganui | 45.5 |
| Wellington | 24.7 |
| West Coast | 76.2 |
| Canterbury | 38.3 |
| Otago | 36.8 |
| Southland | 61.8 |
| Tasman | 33 |
| Nelson | 49.5 |
| Marlborough | 36.2 |
Definitions
Stand-downs: A state or state integrated school principal may consider the formal removal of a student through a stand-down from school for a consecutive period of up to 5 school days. A stand-down, for any student, can total no more than 5 school days in a term, or 10 days in a school year. Students return automatically to school following a stand-down.
Expected stand-downs: How many cases would have occurred if the national rates for each group were applied to the school or region. Expected numbers are not a desired number of cases nor are they a projection.
Age standardised rate: ‘observed’/’expected’*’national rate per 1,000’. Care should be taken when examining age-standardised rates, especially in the cases when small numbers are involved.
Data calculation/treatment
Ethnicity data is collected as a multiple response. However, in these figures, each person is included only once in the total. People are allocated to one of the ethnic groups they have recorded that they affiliate with, according to a prioritisation rule. The order of priority is Māori, Pacific Peoples, Asian, MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African), other groups except European/Pākehā, and European/Pākehā.
Data provided by
Dataset name
Know Your Region: Student Engagement - Age standardised stand-down rate per 1,000 students, by Region 2024
Webpage:
http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/know-your-region
How to find the data
To find specific regional data, select the region of your choice, then select Student Engagement > Stand-downs.
The Ministry provided Figure.NZ with a raw extract of all regions in June 2026.
Import & extraction details
File as imported: Know Your Region: Student Engagement - Age standardised stand-down rate per 1,000 students, by Region 2024
From the dataset Know Your Region: Student Engagement - Age standardised stand-down rate per 1,000 students, by Region 2024, this data was extracted:
- Rows: 2-157
- Columns: 3-5
- Provided: 414 data points
This data forms the table Student Engagement - Age standardised stand-down rate per 1,000 students, by ethnic group and region, 2024.
Purpose of collection
Schools must effectively involve students in learning to ensure educational success. Stand-downs, suspensions, and exclusions help provide indications of where engagement in productive learning may be absent and behavioural issues may be present. Stand-downs, suspensions and exclusions are not measures of student behaviour but measures of a school’s reaction to behaviour. What one school may choose to suspend for another may not.