Educational Achievement

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Leaving school with higher qualifications leads to a range of more positive life outcomes, including higher incomes and better chances of employment, according to The Education Review Office in their recent research report[i]. While evidence suggest that those who have NCEA level 1 are better off than those with no qualifications, there is a declining trend, as offering NCEA level 1 has become optional. Schools in mostly low-socioeconomic areas opting out. ‍ ‍

This section focuses on those leaving without any qualification [1] as a benchmark, to enable comparisons over time and maintaining consistency in analysis.

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Over all 14% of students have no formal qualification on leaving school but this doubles for Māori students, of whom 28% leave with no qualification. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on this concerning trend as prior to 2020 those with no qualification were just 8%. This statistic is highly correlated with the number of youths who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET) – Te Tai Tokerau has one of the highest rates in New Zealand.

It is recognised that students face socio-economic barriers to achievement at school. Since 1 January 2023, the Ministry of Education provides equity funding on top of a school’s core funding to reduce the impact. It uses the Equity Index (EQI) and includes the following variable;

  • Parental socio-economic indicators – education, income, benefit receipt, sole parent status, age of parents at child’s birth, number of older siblings and parental contact with the justice system.

  • Child socio-economic indicators – experience of child poverty, abuse, and neglect through capturing contact with Oranga Tamariki and time spend being supported by a benefit.

  • National background – immigration status of the parent and child including country of birth, migrant category, time spent overseas, age at first arrival in NZ, and ethnicity.

  • Transience – number of school and home changes, occurring both separately and concurrently. [i]

At a regional level, the proportion of students facing the most significant socio-economic barriers who have no qualifications has decreased markedly, from 27% in 2023 to 22% in 2024. This has moderated the overall trend and represents a positive shift.

In contrast, the proportion of students facing moderate socio-economic barriers with no qualifications continues to rise incrementally, with the rate of increase accelerating over time.

‍In Te Tai Tokerau, Tikipunga High School student population face the most barriers, followed by Northland College, Bay of Islands, Kaitaia, Dargaville, Te Kamo, Bream Bay, Whangarei Boys’, Whangarei Girls, Kerikeri and finally Pompallier[i].

High childhood transience is not a neutral background condition; it actively undermines educational achievement, and rates in Te Tai Tokerau are high. Frequent school changes disrupt continuity of learning, leading to gaps in assessment and delayed access to support. They also weaken engagement and a sense of belonging, while contributing to chronic stress that can impair attention, executive function, and working memory. Attendance becomes unstable, and students are often labelled as disengaged rather than recognised as experiencing disruption.

The cumulative impact is reflected in lower literacy and numeracy, over-representation in learning support services, higher rates of stand-downs and exclusions, reduced educational attainment, and earlier school leaving. It also contributes to the under-identification of strengths and culturally grounded capabilities.[ii][iii][iv]

From some of the highest rates in New Zealand - peaking at 19.8% or 576 students in 2016 - Te Tai Tokerau has more than halved the rate of transience students to 8.4% or 259 Students in 2024.

Student attendance and engagement

Data from PISA studies shows that attendance correlates with higher reading and numeracy scores; students missing significant school days frequently score below the OECD average.[i]‍ ‍

In the third term of 2025 there were just 40.6% of students who were attending school for 90% of the time in Te Tai Tokerau - this is amongst the lowest in New Zealand.  The current Government target is 80% of children attend school, 90% of the time. Only the Gisborne region has a lower attendance rate at 38.5%.

At the council level (TLA) the Far North District had only 36.6% attendance rate, while Te Kaipara had 36.9% and Whangarei 44.4%. This is by no means the lowest, with Kawerau students attending only 29.1% of the time. The highest attendance rate was 61.5% for Orakei Auckland and they also had the highest attendance ever - 79.2%, still below the government’s target in the first term of 2025. [ii]‍

‍Stand-downs

Stand-downs are most prevalent among students aged 13–15 years. For this reason, age-standardised rates are used to account for differences in population age structures across regions.

Sharp increases in stand-down rates are rarely an indication that young people are “behaving worse.” More often, they signal systemic pressure within the education and support system. In Te Tai Tokerau, the stand-down rate in 2024 is the highest recorded since the time series began in 2000 and is among the highest nationally, exceeded only by the West Coast and Southland.

One of the primary drivers is the lack of timely and effective alternatives to stand-downs. This includes constrained access to Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), learning support services, psychologists, social workers in schools, behaviour specialists, and wraparound supports. Long waitlists for the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS), SESTA, and specialist education placements further limit schools’ ability to respond to complex needs without resorting to exclusionary discipline.

These pressures tend to intensify following periods of funding constraint, workforce shortages, or service reprioritisation. The current period of system change—such as the rollout of a new curriculum, structured literacy and phonics-based assessment tools, and reforms to replace NCEA—has added to this strain. While Budget 2025 included significant investment in early intervention services, learning support coordinators, expanded teacher-aide hours, and specialist support, it is likely too early for these measures to have had a measurable impact on statistics for Te Tai Tokerau.

Unmet health needs, particularly in relation to child and adolescent mental health, are known to contribute to rising stand-down rates. These needs have been exacerbated by the social and developmental impacts of COVID-19 disruptions, further increasing demand on schools that are already operating with limited support options. [i]