School leaver pathways
What happens to school leavers?
Post-school labour-market outcomes of school-based NCEA
This report presents some basic statistics on what happens to school leavers in the first few years after school and what difference school-based NCEA makes on post-school labour market outcomes.
Youth activity graphs Updated: November 2023
Yearly snapshots of participation in post-compulsory education and training by young people 2019-2022
The intent of these graphics is to provide an indicative annual snapshot of the proportions of young people aged 16 to 24 years participating in different types of education and in work in New Zealand. They illustrate the differences in distribution of young New Zealanders through the education system and the labour market by age, ethnicity, and gender at points in time.
If you are interested instead in research that follows cohorts of school leavers in the years after they leave school, including the proportion that go overseas, or if you want to view the tertiary education indicator for school leaver destinations, see the links under the Related Pages section.
Below the graphics are notes explaining how the graphics were created and identifying the data sources and data limitations. There are also definitions for the different activity types. Because the graphics combine administrative and survey-based data and because of possible double counting in the education data, they should be treated as indicative only.
Key results for 2022:
- In 2022, two-thirds of 16- to 19-year-olds were participating in education and nearly a quarter were in employment (and not in education), with the remaining 11 percent not in employment, education or training (NEET). Over half of 20- to 24-year-olds were in employment (and not in education) and 27 percent in education, with 14 percent NEET, which includes 3.7 percent of 20- to 24-year-olds being caregivers.
- Among those participating in education and training, the proportions of 16- to 19-year-olds in Secondary-Tertiary programmes and in industry training had increased since 2019, while the proportion in Youth Guarantee had decreased.
- For 20- to 24-year-olds in education and training, the proportion participating in industry training had increased since 2019, while the proportion studying at degree level and above decreased over the same period.
- Greater proportions of 20- to 24-year-old men were in employment (and not in education) in 2022 than women. In both age groups, men participated more in industry training while women had higher proportions in other forms of education.
- For Māori in both age groups, and for Pacific Peoples aged 20 to 24 years, lower-than-average participation in education and training is associated with higher rates of NEET. Changes in participation within the different types of education and training since 2019 were similar for Māori and Pacific Peoples to young people overall, except that the proportions of 20- to 24-year-olds in degree-level study were relatively stable.
Figure 1: Participation by young people in education, training and employment, 2019-2022, interactive graph
How the graphics were created
The underlying structure of each graphic is based on data from the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS). The proportions used are an average of the 4 quarterly results for each year. See Statistics New Zealand for detailed information on the HLFS. The HLFS averages are used to split the population for a particular age or age band into four main groups: (i) in education, (ii) employed (not in education), (iii) not in employment, education or training (NEET) - caregiver, and (iv) NEET - not caregiver.
Once the proportion of each age or age band in education is determined from the HLFS, administrative data from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Social Development is used to divide up this section into the various education and training options. People can do more than one education or training programme during a year so there will be an element of double counting in the education data.
The use of survey data means that the estimates of what proportion of the population are in the four main groups above are subject to sampling error. The smaller the sample, the larger the error. Data for Māori and Pacific Peoples, in particular, has high sampling error. Therefore, Māori and Pacific Peoples data has been reported in 16 to 19 and 20 to 24 age bands rather than by single year of age.
Because the graphics combine administrative and survey-based data and because of the double counting issue, they should be treated as indicative only.
HLFS data is estimated by Statistics NZ to the nearest 100. All other counts have been rounded to the nearest 5.
Definitions
Gateway
Gateway is designed to support school students’ transition into the workforce by offering them workplace learning while at secondary school. The funding enables secondary schools to give senior students access to structured workplace learning integrated with school-based learning. Students’ learning is assessed in the workplace and they can achieve credits on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF) towards their National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).
Secondary-Tertiary Programmes
Secondary-tertiary programmes may be led by either a tertiary education provider or a secondary school. These programmes have a focus on developing skills and providing opportunities for learners to move into employment. The most common programme is trades academies.
Training for Work
The Ministry of Social Development funds a service to support clients into employment through the provision of industry and employment related training that is designed to bring participants’ skills up to the minimum entry level that industry requires with specific job opportunities in mind. The service also covers post-placement support for up to 365 days.
Youth Guarantee fees-free funding
The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) funds Youth Guarantee fees-free places in Te Pūkenga, wānanga and NZQA-registered private training establishments (PTEs) for study at levels 1 to 3 of the New Zealand Qualifications Framework. Students must be aged 16 to 19 years at the time of commencing study (or 15 years with an early leaving exemption from school). These places are targeted to young people who have left school without a foundation-level qualification.
Certificates, Diplomas, Degrees and above
These categories relate to Student Achievement Component (SAC) funded tertiary education provision. Funding is allocated by the TEC to universities, Te Pūkenga, wānanga and PTEs. Students may be eligible for student loans and allowances.
Industry Trainees and Apprentices
Up to the end of 2021, TEC funded Transitional Industry Training Organisations and other organisations to support formal workplace learning for people in employment in the form of apprenticeships and traineeships. Employers and learners also contribute to the cost of training. Apprenticeships are qualifications at Level 4 or above that consist of at least 120 credits intended to establish learners into new occupations. Trainees are often involved in smaller programmes, at lower qualification levels, that suit established workers wanting to update or increase their skills.
Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET)
NEET is defined as working age people who are not in employment, education, or training. NEET includes both those people who are unemployed (part of the labour force); and those who are not in the labour force, and at the same time, not in education or training. Statistics NZ calculates NEET rates from the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), and further detail on this survey can be found on their website .
Time Series: School leaver destinations Updated: May 2023
This spreadsheet provides numbers and percentages of school leavers by range of dimensions (such as Māori medium and English medium education, region, school authority, ethnicity) across time in a simple, easy to use format.
- Time Series Data: School Leavers Destinations (2014-2021) [MS Excel 66kB]
School Leaver Destinations Technical Notes
The Measure
Indicator Definition: Percentage of school leavers by tertiary destination
Numerator:
The total number of school leavers enrolled in formal provider-based study, industry training, Modern Apprenticeships and targeted training programmes within three years of leaving school.
(Data Source: Ministry of Education)
Denominator
The total number of domestic school leavers in a given year.
(Data Source: Ministry of Education)
Inclusion and exclusion criteria for school leavers
School leavers are students that permanently left school to enter the workforce and/or undertake further education and training outside of the compulsory schooling system from 1 March for given year to the last day of February the following year (inclusive). School leavers are identified using ENROL. Students counted as school leavers are:
- Domestic students who were aged less than 19 in their first enrolment in ENROL; including alternative education students, students 16 or over on 1 March for given year and students attending teen parent units.
- Students with leave reason ‘end of schooling’ or ‘early leaving exemption’
- Students with leave reason ‘transferred to another school in New Zealand’ or ‘transferred to home schooling’ but did not reenrol in another school according to ENROL
- Students with leave reason ‘gone overseas permanently’, who meet the age criteria
This excludes:
- Returning adult students (aged 19 or more) with a year gap in their attendance
- Exchange and International fee-paying students
- Students who successfully transferred to another school in New Zealand or to home schooling
- Deceased students
Alternative education students are counted with the school that enrolled them in alternative education, this may not be the school that manages their enrolment while they are in alternative education. This is to reflect that the enrolling school is responsible for ensuring the students’ education needs are met.
School leavers are counted under the last school they attended for at least 70 days. If they did not attend a school for 70 days within the school leaver year, then they are included under a ‘transitory leaver’ group.
Interpretation issues
The indicator is constructed from a matched database of school enrolment records, student achievement data from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and tertiary enrolments in formal provider-based study, industry training and targeted training programmes.
A student is considered to progress directly from school to tertiary if they enrol in tertiary in the same year or the year after their last year at school.
Tertiary information is based on tertiary enrolments in formal provider-based study, industry training and targeted training programmes.
Data excludes those Private Training Establishments (PTEs) which neither received tuition subsidies/targeted training funding nor were approved for student loans or allowances.
The highest tertiary qualification level a student is enrolled in is used. If the student has enrolled in two different qualification levels the highest is taken.
Total Response Ethnicity
Total response ethnicity is when people who have been identified in more than one ethnic group have been counted in each ethnic group. For the New Zealand total, individuals are counted only once. Total response ethnicity has been used for all ethnic group analysis in this indicator.
For this indicator European/Pākehā refers to people who affiliate as New Zealand European, Other European or European (not further defined). For example, this includes and is not limited to people who consider themselves as Australian (excluding Australian Aborigines), British and Irish, American, Spanish, and Ukrainian.