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Retention

Completion of upper secondary education is associated with a range of economic and social benefits both in New Zealand and across the OECD. Retention to senior secondary schooling is linked to higher levels of skills and knowledge required for participation in our increasingly knowledge-based society and the wider global community.

The retention data presented here is calculated from school leaver data, that is, it is the age that a school leaver completed their schooling. The Ministry convention is to consider the proportion of students that remain at school until at least their 17th birthday; this is a year after compulsory education and the average age for a student completing their upper secondary qualifications.

Identical information is available by school (Find Your Nearest School), as well as regional council and territorial authority (Know Your Region).

Percentage of school leavers staying at school until at least their 17th birthday (2018-2020)
Group Left before 17th birthday Stayed until 17th birthday Percentage staying until at least 17th birthday
2018 2019 2020 2018 2019 2020 2018 2019 2020
Female 43 53 32 194 191 183 81.9 78.3 85.1
Male 46 73 45 168 172 171 78.5 70.2 79.2
Māori 30 52 35 83 77 76 73.5 59.7 68.5
Pacific 62 75 46 233 232 225 79.0 75.6 83.0
Asian 4 9 5 51 66 68 92.7 88.0 93.2
MELAA x 2 0 x 5 6 x 71.4 100.0
Other x 0 0 x 0 0 x na na
European/Pākehā 10 19 7 47 51 47 82.5 72.9 87.0
CoL Total 89 126 77 362 363 354 80.3 74.2 82.1
New Zealand Total 9,869 10,336 9,945 51,168 49,667 50,384 83.8 82.8 83.5

Notes:

  1. ‘x’ = data has been suppressed where there are between 0 and 5 students in the denominator for a specific group, for example Asian students. Where one gender has been suppressed the corresponding gender has also been suppressed. 'na' = not applicable.
  2. Ethnicity is multiple response, that is, students who affiliated in more than one ethnic group have been counted in each ethnic group. Students are only counted once in the total, therefore, the ethnic groups may not sum to the total.
  3. International fee-paying students and adult students (age 19+) are excluded.

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