Stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions from school
This page provides statistics on the numbers and age-standardised rates of stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions in state, state integrated and charter schools.
Last updated: September 2026
Overview
The age-standardised rates and numbers of stand-down, suspension, exclusion and expulsion decisions decreased in 2025.
- Stand-down decisions decreased from 29,614 in 2024 to 28,992 in 2025, while the age-standardised rate decreased from 37.1 to 36.2 per 1,000 students.
- Suspension decisions decreased from 3,381 to 2,908, with the age-standardised rate decreasing from 4.2 to 3.6 per 1,000 students.
- The age-standardised exclusion rate decreased from 1.8 to 1.5 per 1,000 students.
- The age-standardised expulsion rate decreased from 1.6 to 1.2 per 1,000 students.
- Physical assault on other students and continual disobedience remained the most common behavioural reasons, accounting for over half of stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions.
Going to school every day is important for students to develop skills for lifelong learning. There is a clear connection between going to school regularly and attainment. Students who are stood down, suspended, excluded or expelled have their ability to attend school disrupted.
Stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions are not direct measures of student behaviour, but rather they are indications of how school principals and boards respond to student behaviour.
Stand-down, suspension, exclusion and expulsion rates can vary between groups due to differences in the age distribution of students, with these events most common among students aged 13 to 15 years. Age-standardised rates are used to remove differences due to one group having a younger or older age population than other groups, or when the overall age distribution changes from year to year. For more information see The measures section.
Stand-downs
Both the age-standardised rate and number of stand-down decisions decreased in 2025. The most common behavioural reasons for stand-downs continued to be physical assault on other students and continual disobedience, making up 52.0% of all stand-down decisions in 2025, compared with 49.8% in 2024.
Figure 1: The age-standardised stand-down rate decreased in 2025
Age-standardised stand-down rates by ethnic group
All ethnic groups except for Asian and Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA) students had a decrease in the rate of stand-downs between 2024 and 2025.
In 2025, the age-standardised stand-down rate was highest for ākonga Māori at 67.0 per 1,000 students. This was nearly twice the national rate of 36.2 per 1,000 students. The age-standardised stand-down rates per 1,000 students were 45.3 for Pacific students, 30.4 for MELAA students, 32.6 for European/Pākehā students, 12.7 for Asian students and 25.4 for students with Other ethnicities.
Figure 2: The age-standardised stand-down rates decreased for all ethnic groups except for Asian and MELAA students in 2025 compared to 2024
Suspensions
In 2025, the age-standardised suspension rate decreased to 3.6 per 1,000 students from 4.2 per 1,000 students in 2024. There were 2,908 suspension decisions in 2025 compared to 3,381 in 2024.
Figure 3: The age-standardised suspension rate decreased in 2025
Age-standardised suspension rates by ethnic group
Ākonga Māori, Pacific, MELAA, European/Pākehā and Asian students had a decrease in suspension rates between 2024 and 2025.
The age-standardised suspension rate was highest for ākonga Māori at 8.1 per 1,000 students. This was more than double the national age-standardised rate of 3.6 suspensions per 1,000 students. The age-standardised suspension rates for Pacific students were 4.5 per 1,000 students, 2.4 for MELAA students, 2.9 for European/Pākehā students, 0.9 for Asian students and 2.3 for students with Other ethnicities.
Figure 4: The age-standardised suspension rate decreased for ākonga Māori, Pacific, European/Pākehā and Asian students between 2024 and 2025
Exclusions
Exclusion is the most serious suspension outcome for students aged under 16. This is the removal of the student from a school by the Board. There is a legal requirement that students are enrolled in education, therefore the principal must try to arrange for an excluded student to attend another suitable school that is reasonable and convenient to attend.
In 2025, the age-standardised exclusion rate decreased to 1.5 per 1,000 students, compared to 1.8 per 1,000 students in 2024. There were 1,064 exclusion decisions in 2025, 143 fewer exclusions than in 2024.
Figure 5: The age-standardised exclusion rate decreased in 2025
Age-standardised exclusion rates by ethnic group
Ākonga Māori, Pacific, European/Pākehā, Asian, and MELAA students had a decrease in exclusion rates between 2024 and 2025. Students with Other ethnicities had a small increase.
The age-standardised exclusion rate was highest for ākonga Māori at 3.4 per 1,000 students. This was 2.3 times the national rate of 1.5 per 1,000 students. The age-standardised exclusion rates per 1,000 students were 2.0 for Pacific students, 1.3 for European/Pākehā students, 0.3 for Asian students, 1.1 for MELAA students, and 1.0 for students with Other ethnicities.
Figure 6: The age-standardised exclusion rates decreased for ākonga Māori, Pacific, European/Pākehā and Asian students from 2024-2025
Expulsions
Expulsion is the most serious suspension outcome for students aged 16 or older. This is the removal of the student from a school by the Board. The student is not required to enrol elsewhere but may be supported to do so.
The age-standardised expulsion rate decreased to 1.2 per 1,000 students in 2025, compared to 1.6 per 1,000 students in 2024. There were 137 expulsions in 2025 compared to 178 in 2024.
Figure 7: The age-standardised expulsion rate decreased between 2024 and 2025
The behaviours most commonly associated with expulsions were physical assault on other students and other harmful or dangerous behaviour. Combined, these accounted for 67.2% of expulsions, an increase of 4.3 percentage points compared to 2024. Physical assault on other students accounted for 47.4% of expulsions. Other harmful or dangerous behaviour accounted for 19.7% of expulsions.
Time series
These spreadsheets provide the number of students and rates of stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions since the year 2000 in an easy to use format.
- Time series: Stand-downs (2000-2025) [MS Excel 256kB]
- Time series: Suspensions (2000-2025) [MS Excel 252kB]
- Time series: Exclusions (2000-2025) [MS Excel 250kB]
- Time series: Expulsions (2000-2025) [MS Excel 239kB]
The measures
This indicator uses age-standardised rates. All rates are instances per 1,000 students. We standardise for age so that fairer comparisons can be made between different groups and from year to year. That is, age-standardisation removes any differences due to one group having a younger or older population than other groups, or if the overall age distribution has changed from year to year.
The age distributions of students in each category and year have been standardised to the set of 2025 age-specific rates for all New Zealand.
Indicator description: Stand-downs
The numerator and denominator for each age-specific stand-down rate is calculated as follows:
Numerator:
Total number of stand-downs occurring during the school year.
(Data source: Ministry of Education: Stand-downs and suspensions database)
Denominator:
Total number of students on roll as at 1 July of each year, by individual year of age, excluding:
- students from schools which are not receiving public funding,
- students at Correspondence School,
- students older than 19 years, and
- International fee-paying students.
(Data source: Ministry of Education: July school roll return)
Indicator description: Suspensions
The numerator and denominator for each age-specific suspension rate is calculated as follows:
Numerator:
Total number of suspensions occurring during the school year.
(Data source: Ministry of Education: Stand-downs and suspensions database)
Denominator:
Total number of students on roll as at 1 July of each year, by individual year of age, excluding:
- students from schools which are not receiving public funding,
- students at Correspondence School,
- students older than 19 years, and
- International fee-paying students.
(Data source: Ministry of Education: July school roll return)
Indicator description: Exclusions and expulsions
The numerator and denominator for each age-specific exclusion/expulsion rate is calculated as follows:
Numerator:
Total number of exclusions or expulsions occurring during the school year.
(Data source: Ministry of Education: Exclusions and expulsions database)
Denominator:
Total number of students on roll as at 1 July of each year, by individual year of age, excluding:
- students from schools which are not receiving public funding,
- students at Correspondence School,
- students older than 19 years, and
- International fee-paying students.
(Data source: Ministry of Education: July school roll return)
Definitions and data dimensions
Stand-downs
A stand-down results when a principal decides to remove a student from school or kura for a period of up to 5 school days. A stand-down for any student can total no more than 5 school days in any term, or 10 school days in a year. Students return to school or kura following a stand-down.
Suspensions
A suspension is when a principal removes a student from school or kura until the Board decides the outcome at a suspension meeting. Following a suspension, the Board must meet within 7 school days and make one of the following possible decisions:
- Lift the suspension without conditions;
- Lift the suspension with conditions;
- Extend the suspension with conditions;
- Exclude or expel the student.
Exclusions and expulsions
Following a suspension meeting, the Board may decide to permanently remove a student. If the student is:
- Under the age of 16, the student is excluded;
- Aged 16 or over, the student is expelled.
Behaviour
Stand-downs are not a measure of student behaviour but a measure of a school’s reaction to the behaviours. What one school may choose to suspend for, another may not. The number of these events should not be used as a proxy measure for total student behaviour.
There are 15 different ‘behaviour’ categories that can be selected as the reason for concern. The category "Other" includes: sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, weapons, and other harmful or dangerous behaviour.
Age
The student’s age when they first received the stand-down, suspension, expulsion or exclusion. The age of students is between 5 and 19 years old.
Ethnic group
The Ministry uses Statistics New Zealand's methodology for reporting of ethnicity: ethnicity is any ethnic group or groups that people identify with or feel they belong to. Ethnicity is a measure of cultural affiliation, rather than race, ancestry, nationality, or citizenship.
This means up to 3 different ethnic groups can be recorded for each student. A student is counted in each ethnic group they belong to and once in "Total" ethnic group. Total response ethnicity is available from 2018 onwards and is sourced from school roll return (or from ENROL if no roll return data for students).
Gender
The gender of the students, as recorded in the school’s roll return (or ENROL if no roll return data for students).
Equity Index Band
The Equity Index Bands are an indicator of the relative degree of socio-economic barriers to educational achievement faced by students at the schools in each band, and is used as a tool for analysing and reporting on socio-economic trends in education data. Equity Index Bands are derived from the Equity Index used for school funding. There are 7 Equity Index Bands each containing a similar number of schools. In order of increasing socio-economic barriers the bands are named: “Fewest”, “Few”, “Below Average”, “Average”, “Above Average”, “Many”, and “Most”.
The school equity index has been in use since 2023. For 2019 to 2023 the Equity Index Bands are derived from the 2023 Equity index numbers in order to provide a time series. For 2019 to 2022, schools that closed before Equity Index values became available in 2023 are classified as "Unassigned".
More information on the Equity Index Bands and Groups can be found here.
Equity Index Group
There are 3 groups of schools formed by collapsing the 7 Equity Index Bands to form 3 groups: Fewer socio-economic barriers, moderate socio-economic barriers and most socio-economic barriers.
More information on the Equity Index Bands and Groups can be found here.
Region: Regional council
The regional council area the school of the student is located in. Regional council boundaries are defined by Statistics New Zealand. Not Applicable includes students with no regional council information available.
Region: Education area
These are twelve administrative regions created by the Ministry of Education and aligned with the Ministry's 10 local offices. Students are included in the education area of the last school they were enrolled with. In 2023 the Auckland region was split into 3 education areas, Tāmaki Herenga Tāngata (north and west Auckland), Tāmaki Herenga Manawa (central and east Auckland) and Tāmaki Herenga Waka (south and southwest Auckland). Not Applicable includes students with no education area information available.
Region: Territorial authority
The territorial authority area that each student’s school is located in. Territorial authority boundaries are defined by Statistics New Zealand. Auckland Territorial Authority is further broken down into local board. Not Applicable includes students with no territorial authority information available.