8.2 School attendance Te haere ki te kura
8.2. School attendance | Te haere ki te kura
When schools were closed in New Zealand, education switched to remote learning where feasible. Student attendance includes remote learning, and is measured in half-days. Figure 115 shows that regular student attendance held up during 2020 and 2021, then dipped sharply in 2022. Relative attendance by ethnicity and socioeconomic background remained unchanged.
Figure 115: Regular student attendance in New Zealand, term 1 2019 to term 2 2025
Proportion of students attending more than 90% of the time, by ethnicity and socioeconomic group
(a) By ethnicity
(b) By socioeconomic barriers to learning
Source: Ministry of Education, Student Attendance, 2019–2025
Notes:
1. Attending more than 90% of half days is considered 'Regular Attendance' by the Ministry of Education.
2. Socioeconomic background as measured by the Ministry of Education's Equity Index. The seven bands (Fewest to Most) contain roughly equal numbers of schools. Students in the Fewest category are at schools with the lowest Equity Index scores (that is, fewest socioeconomic barriers to achievement) and those in the Most category are at schools with the highest Equity Index scores (that is, most socioeconomic barriers to achievement). For more information see https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/changes-in-education/equity-index
3. MELAA refers to students identifying as Middle Eastern, Latin American or African.
Student absences considered justified because of illness or medical absences exceeded 8% of half-days in mid-2022, coinciding with widespread community transmission of the Omicron variant. Truancies also peaked in 2022, before falling to between 1–2% of half-days in 2024 (Figure 116).
Figure 116: Justified and unjustified student absences in New Zealand, term 1 2019 to term 2 2025
Half-day absences as a percentage of total half-days
(a) Justified absences
(b) Unjustified absences
Source: Ministry of Education, Student Attendance, 2019–2025
Notes:
1. The calculation of the proportion of Half-Days Present, Justified or Unjustified is based on time in half-days that students attended or were absent from school, not the number of students.
2. Justified absence: An explained absence, within the school’s policy as an acceptable reason for the student to be away from school, for example, Absent due to short-term illness/medical reasons; an absence where the reason for absence is within the school policy; Stood down or suspended.
3. Unjustified absence: An absence that is either unexplained or, explained, but the explanation is not within the school's policy as an acceptable reason for the student to be away from school. e.g.: No information or throw-away explanation; Absent with an explained but unjustified reason; Holiday during term time; Unknown reason.
The closure of the border to travellers who were not New Zealand citizens or residents in March 2020 led to a striking fall in the number of international students in New Zealand. Much of the fall was concentrated in tertiary student numbers, which dropped by more than two-thirds between 2019 and 2022, before beginning to recover the following year (Figure 117).
Figure 117: International fee-paying students in New Zealand
Number of equivalent full-time international fee-paying students, school and tertiary sectors, 2003–2024
Source: Ministry of Education, 'Export Education Levy: Full-year statistics 2024', last updated May 2025, https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/international-students-in-new-zealand
Notes: One equivalent full-time student (EFTS) unit is defined in the school sector as 40 weeks for a primary student and 39 weeks for a secondary student. It is defined in funded providers as a full-time student (20 hours or more per week) studying for 36 weeks or more. It is defined in unfunded providers as total teaching hours divided by 40, or as total teaching hours divided by total teaching weeks divided by 40, depending on the data provided.