Students who were justifiably or unjustifiably absent from class in New Zealand
By school decile, Term 2, 2022, % of student half-days
| School decile | Measure | % of student half-days |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justified Absence Half-Days | 9.9% |
| 1 | Unjustified Absence Half-Days | 14.3% |
| 2 | Justified Absence Half-Days | 10.9% |
| 2 | Unjustified Absence Half-Days | 11.3% |
| 3 | Justified Absence Half-Days | 11.5% |
| 3 | Unjustified Absence Half-Days | 8.4% |
| 4 | Justified Absence Half-Days | 10.8% |
| 4 | Unjustified Absence Half-Days | 6.7% |
| 5 | Justified Absence Half-Days | 11.2% |
| 5 | Unjustified Absence Half-Days | 5% |
| 6 | Justified Absence Half-Days | 11.1% |
| 6 | Unjustified Absence Half-Days | 5.3% |
| 7 | Justified Absence Half-Days | 10.6% |
| 7 | Unjustified Absence Half-Days | 4% |
| 8 | Justified Absence Half-Days | 10.3% |
| 8 | Unjustified Absence Half-Days | 3.4% |
| 9 | Justified Absence Half-Days | 9.9% |
| 9 | Unjustified Absence Half-Days | 3.1% |
| 10 | Justified Absence Half-Days | 9.6% |
| 10 | Unjustified Absence Half-Days | 2.9% |
Definitions
Students attending regularly: having attended more than 90% of all school time in Term 2, where time is measured in half-days.
Lateness: The percentage of classes for which students were marked as arriving late, out of the classes they attended. School policy will determine when a student is
recorded as arriving late to class (e.g. more than 10 minutes late).
Being present at school: it does not include justified nor unjustified absence from school. It does include classes where a student is at school for the day but needs to attend an in school or out of school appointment or is on a school organised outing.
Justified and unjustified absences: absences with explanations that have been deemed satisfactory or unsatisfactory, respectively. School principals are required to make a judgement as to which explanations they will accept, based on school policy. These policies may vary slightly and could lead to small differences in data between schools.
Data calculation/treatment
Detailed attendance records are required for the analysis performed in this report, therefore only schools that can provide attendance data electronically are able to participate in this analysis. In earlier years, there were more schools that could not provide electronic extracts of their attendance data, and these schools were typically smaller primary schools. Therefore, the data in this analysis has become more representative over time, as more schools are able to provide this data.
Being present at school does not include justifiable (nor unjustifiable) absence from school but does include classes where a student is at school attending an appointment or on a school organized outing.
Changes to data collection/processing
Due to the unusual circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the data reflects different circumstances than in previous years. In 2020 Term 2 was 12 weeks long, during the first 5 weeks all students. were engaged in home learning. Attendance data were therefore only collected for the last 7 weeks of Term 2.
Data provided by
Dataset name
New Zealand Schools Attendance Survey: Term 2, 2022
Webpage:
https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/attendance
How to find the data
At URL provided, download '2011-2022 Attendance Data' file under Regular attendance time series data (2011 Term 2 to 2022 Term 2).
Import & extraction details
File as imported: New Zealand Schools Attendance Survey: Term 2, 2022
From the dataset New Zealand Schools Attendance Survey: Term 2, 2022, this data was extracted:
- Sheet: Decile
- Range:
D5:O246 - Provided: 2,904 data points
This data forms the table Schooling - Student attendance by school decile 2011–2022.
Dataset originally released on:
November 2022
About this dataset
Regular attendance at school, measures the percentage of students who have attended more than 90% of the term, Historically attendance data were collected for Term 2, however, from 2019 attendance data have been collected for each term.
Purpose of collection
Attendance is linked to both student wellbeing and to attainment.
Student wellbeing is a key priority of the education system. Studies confirm that attending school regularly predicts the best outcomes for wellbeing on average. The Ministry found that reports by 15-year-old students of skipping a greater number of days in the previous fortnight of school predicted worse average outcomes relating to schoolwork-related anxiety, sense of belonging, bullying, racism and motivation,
Attendance is also linked to student attainment in secondary students.