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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 for other territorial authorities in this region by using the drop down menu above. For territorial authorities in other regions first choose the appropriate region from the drop down menu above.

Percentage of school leavers staying at school until at least their 17th birthday (2018-2020)
Group Left before 17th birthday Stayed until at least 17th birthday Percentage staying until at least 17th birthday
2018 2019 2020 2018 2019 2020 2018 2019 2020
Female 54 57 72 348 319 312 86.6 84.8 81.3
Male 84 104 112 276 261 282 76.7 71.5 71.6
Māori 41 36 54 97 90 102 70.3 71.4 65.4
Pacific 3 3 5 23 14 7 88.5 82.4 58.3
Asian 3 3 4 24 31 25 88.9 91.2 86.2
MELAA 2 x x 5 x x 71.4 x x
Other 0 x x 0 x x na x x
European/Pākehā 106 133 138 545 489 519 83.7 78.6 79.0
Territorial Total 138 161 184 624 580 594 81.9 78.3 76.3
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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