Canterbury Region

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 for the region’s territorial authorities using the drop down menu above. For other territorial authorities first choose the appropriate region from the drop down menu above.

Percentage of school leavers staying at school until at least their 17th birthday (2017-2019)
Group Left before 17th birthday Stayed until 17th birthday Percentage staying until at least 17th birthday
2017 2018 2019 2017 2018 2019 2017 2018 2019
Female 402 422 479 3,116 3,055 3,175 88.6 87.9 86.9
Male 691 726 793 3,060 3,056 3,040 81.6 80.8 79.3
Māori 277 325 363 739 732 785 72.7 69.3 68.4
Pacific 59 74 82 273 268 315 82.2 78.4 79.3
Asian 25 26 37 588 572 658 95.9 95.7 94.7
MELAA 10 8 14 116 125 124 92.1 94.0 89.9
Other 3 6 9 24 21 21 88.9 77.8 70.0
European/Pākehā 842 870 958 4,905 4,913 4,880 85.3 85.0 83.6
Region Total 1,093 1,148 1,272 6,176 6,111 6,215 85.0 84.2 83.0
New Zealand Total 9,957 10,037 11,113 52,698 51,260 50,593 84.1 83.6 82.0

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.