Key points
School leavers with no formal qualifications are a concern to the Government which is aiming to develop a knowledge economy. Those who leave school early with few qualifications are at a much greater risk of unemployment or vulnerability in the labour force and of having low incomes (MSD Social Report).
- The proportion of school leavers with no formal qualification has fallen dramatically over the past few years at the regional and national level. There were 5,746 school leavers in the Waikato Region in 2010, of whom 378 (6.6%) left school with little or no formal attainment. The comparative figure for 2003 was around 20%. There is considerable variation between territorial authority areas throughout the Region which likely reflects differences in underlying socio-economic status. There are also persistent levels of poor formal academic attainment by Māori and Pacific Islands school leavers, although the disparity has reduced over the past decade.
Percentage of school leavers in the Waikato Region and New Zealand with no formal qualification
Source: Ministry of Education “Education Counts” website
Note: No formal qualification equates to less than 12 credits at Level 1 NCEA 1998 to 2002 and fewer than 14 credits at NCEA Level 1 from 2003 onwards. From 2002, the school leaver data collection was changed as a result of the introduction of NCEA. Also, school leaver data is now based on the concept of achievement, where students have to both participate and achieve credits in order to be counted as having a qualification. Prior to 2002, school leaver data was based on the concept of participation - if a student sat School Certificate they were deemed to have School Certificate regardless of their grade. Readers should note that these changes have led to discontinuities with previous time-series. The 2009 and 2010 data follows a new definition of school leavers, which creates an additional discontinuity.
What agencies are doing
Information currently being collated.
What you can do to help
Information currently being collated.
More information
More detail on this indicator, including how and where this information is collected, is available here.
What we want to achieve
The community outcomes we are seeking to achieve by reducing the number of school leavers with no formal qualifications are:
- Education provides opportunities so we can reach our full potential as individuals and contribute to the well-being of the whole region.
- Maori enjoy the same quality of health, education, housing, employment and economic outcomes as non-Maori.