Education

AKA: schooling

What this graph shows

• % of primary and secondary school children attending 90% of school days or more (9 out of 10 days in a fortnight)
• Term 2
• 2011 onwards as that is when the data series began.

Key notes

• Education has dropped out of the top 10 voter issues in the latest polling round (now #12), but we have left it displayed without a ranking number since:
  • It has been a top 10 issue for most months in the current parliamentary term.
  • At #12 on the issue ranking list, it is still important.
  • Education is important for our collective and individual futures, including helping the health system, economy, employment levels, environment, and reducing poverty, crime, reliance on immigration, and social/racial division (the other top 13 issues, aside from cost of living/inflation).
• Term 1, 3, and 4 data has only been collated since 2019, so we need to use term 2 data which has been collated since 2011.
• The Covid retrictions and lockdown rules that began on 19 March 2020 nationwide and the final lockdown that ended on 15 December 2021 in Auckland, obviously had a significant impact on school attendance for some of this timeframe. Some argue that these were necessary and appropriate measures. Some believe that they weren't aggressive enough. And some believe that they shouldn't have happened, were too harsh, or went on too long. Context and judgments like this are subjective, so they are impossible to show in a graph. It is up to each reader to evaluate the proportion of responsibility they place on each government over the timeframe shown, versus factors outside of their control.
• Remember that each Labour-led or National-led government has had coalition and support partners that share in their successes and failures. A full list of governments for this time range is at the bottom of this page.

Data sources

• 2011-2018: https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/attendance > Term 2 regular attendance 2011-2018
• 2019-2021: https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/attendance > Regular attendance 2019-2021
• 2022-2026: https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/attendance > Regular attendance 2022-2026

Data timing

• Frequency: 4 school terms, but annually for this graph (Term 2 only)
• Update delay: ~2 months after term ends (used to be 4.5 months for Term 2)
• Last update: 2026 Term 2 = August 2026
• Next update: 2027 Term 2 = August 2027

Why this KPI?

• The two key measurements of education are:
  • Attendance = are children showing up?
  • Qualifications = are they learning skills to prosper in life?
• It’s a lot harder to achieve those qualifications and skills if you don’t first turn up, which is why we measure attendance as the primary KPI.

Discarded

Term 1/3/4 attendance data

• As this data series only started in 2019 and was significantly interrupted by Covid lockdowns, it is less useful and doesn’t allow us to compare performance between governments as well.
• There are also variances in attendance between warmer and cooler months, so you can't easily plot all 4 terms on the same line.

Related facts

Some of these articles contain historical data and analysis that may not have been updated since publication. Please check the dates when interpreting the findings.

• School attendance:
  • School attendance by term
  • Number of children not attending by term (2022 Covid data which was discontinued)
  • School attendance by region, decile, and ethnicity
  • On-site, off-site, absent comparison (term 1 and term 2, 2022)
  • School days lost by region due to Covid lockdowns
• School leavers qualifications and retention
• Poll on whether the Labour Government is doing enough for literacy/numeracy
• Tertiary participation rates
• University participation rates

Wishlist

With support, we’ll be able to add multiple KPIs for each issue:

• Updates on many of the KPIs listed above.
• Non-enrolled children per capita
• Full breakdown of all NCEA and UE levels achieved
• Numeracy/literacy scores across all international and internal benchmark tests
• Teaching staff per capita (frontline vs back office) (spending and staff levels are input, not output measures)
• Average classroom size
• ECE (Early Childhood Education) teacher metrics

Governments over the timeframe shown

• 2008 = National + ACT, United, Māori
  2011 = National + ACT, United, Māori
  2014 = National + ACT, United, Māori
  
  
• 2017 = Labour/NZ First + Green
  2020 = Labour + Green

• 2023 = National/ACT/NZ First

* National remained in government from 1993–1999 despite MP defections and changing governing arrangements. Its coalition with NZ First, formed after the first MMP election in 1996, collapsed in August 1998.
/ = Coalition partners
+ = Other formal governing agreements, including confidence and supply, support and cooperation.

Sources:1,2 (table 5)

© Copyright

Data published by Ministry of Education
© Crown Copyright
Licensed for use under the creative commons attribution licence (BY) 4.0

Analysis and graphics © KPI.nz 2026. Please share widely! You're welcome to reproduce our work with attribution and a link to the original post.

Corrections & suggestions

If you spot a typo, mistake, or improvement opportunity for this page, please let us know.