Chronic absence in students has doubled in the last decade, and the system for addressing this is ineffective and failing, per new research from the Education Review Office (ERO).
In Term 2, 2024, one in ten students were chronically absent. Over 80,000 Kiwi kids missed more than three weeks of school during the term.
“The number of students who are chronically absent from school is at a crisis point and is damaging students’ futures,” says Ruth Shinoda, Head of ERO’s Education Evaluation Centre.
She says that over half of students who are chronically absent from school do not go on to achieve NCEA Level 2.
“They have higher rates of offending, are more likely to be victims of crime, and are more likely to live in social and emergency housing as adults. By the age of 20, they cost the Government three times as much as students who go to school.”
“Action is too slow, and students fall through the gaps,” she continues.
“Half of schools do not refer students to Attendance Services, and, too often, intervention is too late. Over half of school leaders and Attendance Service staff report there aren’t good options to enforce good attendance”.
“We must do more to prevent students from missing out on their education. It will take parents and whānau, schools, and Government agencies all working together to fix it and get chronically absent students back to school and thriving.”
Associate education minister David Seymour says that ERO’s report is further evidence of the truancy crisis. He says the nation is on the right track to making school attendance a priority.
“Chronic absence has doubled since 2015. This report reinforces that action is needed to ensure this generation reaches its full potential,” he says.
“It will be mandatory for all schools to have an attendance management plan based on STAR from the beginning of the 2026 school year.
“The Ministry will work with schools, the Attendance Service, non-government agencies and other government agencies to streamline this.
David Seymour says that the report shows there’s a lack of understanding of the implications of truancy and that interventions are occurring too late. “The Government is addressing these issues. We’ve started a nationwide conversation on truancy,” he insists.
School leaders are calling for a reform of the absentee system tasked with getting students back to school, including monitoring and enforcement measures, saying that a more robust system should place principals and whānau at its centre and address wider socioeconomic inequities.
NZEI Te Riu Roa President Mark Potter says, “The weaknesses identified in the current system are down to either lack of resourcing or socioeconomic factors that contribute to absenteeism like trauma and poverty.
“Principals know what their role is and what needs to be done to tackle this. They know what constitutes chronic absence and how to effectively communicate expectations. What principals are lacking is the support needed to manage absenteeism in their schools.
“In many cases, students are lacking suitable support to ensure they can attend school and learn effectively, and the Government agencies meant to be helping address this have had their resources stripped bare. Government need to work with principals to understand their needs and the needs of the child and their whānau.”
He says that to put into place the system ERO is describing – where schools work with parents, whānau and Government agencies to get chronically absent kids back into the classroom – funding is needed, and the Government must listen to the unique needs of a school.
“What works successfully for one school may not work for another. Educators need to be listened to when they say what their specific needs are.
“The needs of rural schools will be different to those of urban schools. Kura Kaupapa Māori or Ngā Kura Kura ā-iwi (who were not visited as part of the data gathering) will have their own specific needs.
“Instead of funnelling money to the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff once ākonga have left the education system, let’s get that investment happening sooner in the lives of these tamariki.”
He adds that education is not in a vacuum, and there needs to be a society-wide approach to addressing inequality.
Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president, says schools desperately need more support to address chronic school absenteeism.
“The issues causing the increase in chronic non-attendance over the last ten years are complex and varied. If we want to see a long-term reduction in these rates, schools and school attendance services need more staffing, more time and more resources.
“Schools and attendance services are stretched to the limit. They don’t have the time and resources that these issues need. Young people who are chronic non-attenders and their whānau need a lot of ongoing time, attention and support that currently just is not there.
“We need lasting, meaningful and integrated solutions – both at the community level, with other agencies and supports, and at the school level with appropriate funding and resourcing for gateway, alternative education and activity centres, pastoral care and learning support.”
He says that alternative education has been chronically under-resourced for years, a point which ERO previously made.
“It’s deeply disappointing that the government has chosen to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a vanity project such as charter schools when issues such as chronic non-attendance are crying out for adequate funding.”
