Highest number of 15-year-olds drop out of school since 2007
Last year 1376 teens were allowed to leave school before the age of 16.
Photo:
RNZ / Richard Tindiller
More 15-year-olds are being allowed to leave school, Education Ministry figures show.
In both 2023 and 2024 the number of early leavers was higher than any year since 2007.
The ministry said 1376 teens were allowed to leave before the age of 16 last year, though the figure was preliminary because some might have later returned to school.
In 2023, 1291 15-year-olds were granted early leaving exemptions, giving an early leaving rate of 20 per 1000 15-year-olds.
However, Māori students were granted exemptions at a rate of 47 per 1000 15-year-olds and accounted for 761 of the 2023 exemptions.
The figures also showed Northland had the highest rate of early leaving exemption at 61 per 1000, followed by Nelson with 42 and Bay of Plenty with 41.
A ministry report on the 2023 data showed several schools in the group classified as facing the most socio-economic barriers had early leaving rates ranging from 150 to nearly 350 per 1000 15-year-olds.
The report said the number of applications for early leaving exemptions reached more than 70 per 1000 in the early 2000s, but a rule change in 2007 dropped the rate to 11.
"Between 2008 and 2012, the rate of early leaving exemptions continued to decrease and remained at a consistently low level. Following the 2008 global financial crisis, from 2009 to 2014 the unemployment rates for 15- to 19-year-olds were very high (over 18 percent) and this may have affected the number of requests for an early leaving exemption. Since 2014, the number of approved early leaving exemptions has been increasing. In 2014, there were 362 approved early leaving exemptions, increasing to 1291 in 2023," it said.
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