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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 (2022-2024)
Group Left before 17th birthday Stayed until at least 17th birthday Percentage staying until at least 17th birthday
2022 2023 2024 2022 2023 2024 2022 2023 2024
Female 31 53 37 348 319 330 91.8 85.8 89.9
Male 61 53 46 397 383 413 86.7 87.8 90.0
Māori 20 29 22 65 58 58 76.5 66.7 72.5
Pacific 47 50 36 208 194 206 81.6 79.5 85.1
Asian 19 30 27 383 352 411 95.3 92.1 93.8
MELAA x x 5 x x 44 x x 89.8
Other x x 0 x x 5 x x 100.0
European/Pākehā 24 28 18 156 130 126 86.7 82.3 87.5
Territorial Total 92 106 83 745 702 743 89.0 86.9 90.0
New Zealand Total 13,035 13,308 12,833 51,188 50,995 54,578 79.7 79.3 81.0

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.

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