Early leaving exemptions

Indicator Description

Proportion of 15 year-old students enrolled who obtain an early leaving exemption.

What We Have Found

Why This Is Important

In order to achieve, students must stay at school, experience a sense of belonging and support, and stay interested and engaged in learning.  All schools face the constant challenge of ensuring that all students feel they belong and are encouraged to participate at school.  This is the foundation of motivation, interest and pleasure in learning.

School is compulsory for all students aged between 6 and 16 years.  However, parents of students aged fifteen may apply to the Ministry of Education for an exemption from schooling on the basis of educational problems, conduct, or the unlikelihood of the student gaining benefit from attending available schools.  Parents are required to give details about training programmes or employment that the student would move on to in the event of an exemption being granted.

These young people leaving school without qualifications may have difficulty performing in the workforce and may face difficulties in terms of life-long learning, or returning to formal study in later years.

There is a strong correlation between early school leavers and unemployment and/or lower incomes, which are in turn generally related to poverty and dependence on income support.  In New Zealand, recent data show that those with no qualifications have unemployment rates far exceeding those with qualifications, and the lowest median incomes.

How We Are Going

Both the rates of early leaving exemption applications received and those approved, changed very little between 2000 and 2006.  In 2006, 70.0 per 1,000 15 year-old students applied for an early leaving exemption, with 65.3 per 1,000 15 year-old students being granted an early leaving exemption.

Early leaving exemption application approval and decline rates (2000 to 2008)

In May 2007, the Ministry of Education strengthened its early leaving application and approval process in order to reduce the number of early leaving exemptions, and the associated social and economic disadvantages that face those students who leave school early.  The process involved:

• imposing a stricter interpretation of the early leaving legislative criteria, which sets a very high threshold for early leaving eligibility
• ensuring direct contact between parents and Ministry staff at the first stage in the early leaving process, to actively dissuade early leaving and to support parents to find ways of keeping their children engaged in learning, and
• encouraging alternatives to early leaving, such as a combination of school- and work-based learning.
  

The evidence so far suggests that these approaches have been highly successful.  The rate of demand for early leaving exemptions declined by 78% between 2006 and 2008, while the percentage of applications that were declined by the Ministry of Education during that period increased from 6.6% in 2006 to 27.6% in 2008.  The net effect is that there was an 83% reduction from 2006 in the rate of early leaving exemptions, with 11.0 per 1,000 15 year-old students being granted an early leaving exemption in 2008.

Early leaving exemption rates, by ethnic group (2000 to 2008)

The decline in the rates of early leaving exemptions between 2006 and 2008 was 83% for both Māori and European/Pākehā.  The reduction in the early leaving exemption rate for Pasifika was slightly higher with an 88% decrease.

However, Māori students still have disproportionately high rates of early leaving exemptions compared with other ethnic groups.  In 2008, the early leaving exemption rate for Māori students (25.1 per 1,000 15 year-old students) was almost four times higher than the rate for Pasifika (6.7 per 1,000 15 year-old students), and over three times as high as that for European/Pākehā (8.3 per 1,000 15 year-old students).  In contrast, there were almost no Asian 15 year-old students receiving early leaving exemptions.

Early leaving exemption rates, by ethnic group and school quintile (2008)

There is a clear correlation between the socio-economic mix of the school students attend and early leaving exemption rates.  Schools in the lowest quintile (deciles 1 and 2) draw their students from communities with the highest degree of socio-economic disadvantage.  In 2008 the early leaving exemption rate for students from these schools was 8.3 times higher than the rate for students in the highest quintile (deciles 9 and 10).  The early leaving exemption rates were highest for Māori in each quintile, while rates for European/Pākehā students were higher than Pasifika students in all quintiles.

In 2008 two-thirds of all early leaving exemptions were for males. The female rate was 7.0 per 1,000 15 year-old students while the male rate was 14.8 per 1,000 15 year-old students.

A Training Provider course was the most popular destination for a 15 year-old student who received an early leaving exemption, with the majority (80.6%) of early leavers going there in 2008.  A further 12.7% of all early leavers went into full time employment, with the remainder going into a Polytechnic course (6.7%).

Where To Find Out More

To obtain information about other forms of student disengagement, consider indicators:

• Truancy from school
• Stand-downs from school
• Suspensions from school
• Exclusions and expulsions from school

Unemployment and income are interrelated with school qualification. To obtain information on unemployment and income consider the indicators:

• Unemployment rates by highest qualification
• Impact of education on income

The Ministry of Education has established an Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme to systematically identify, evaluate, analyse, synthesise and make accessible, relevant evidence linked to a range of learner outcomes. Evidence about what works for this indicator can be found in:

• Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis
• The Complexity of Community and Family Influences on Children's Achievement in New Zealand: Best Evidence Synthesis

References

Alton-Lee, A. (2003). Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

Biddulph, F., Biddulph, J. and Biddulph, C. (2003). The Complexity of Community and Family Influences on Children's Achievement in New Zealand: Best Evidence Synthesis Wellington: Ministry of Education.

Brooks, M., et al. (1997). Under-age School Leaving: A Report to the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme. Hobart: National Clearing House for Youth Studies.