Technical Notes

Ethnicity

Ethnicity is the ethnic group or groups to which an individual belongs. The concept of ethnicity adopted by the Ministry of Education is a social construct of group affiliation and identity. The Ministry of Education uses the definition of ethnicity used by Statistics New Zealand, namely:

A social group whose members have one or more of the following characteristics they:

• share a sense of common origins
• claim a common and distinctive history and destiny
• possess one or more dimensions of collective cultural individuality
• feel a sense of unique collective solidarity.

Individuals may identify with multiple ethnicities.  In total response ethnicity they will be counted once against each of the ethnicities with which they affiliate, except for the overall totals in which they are counted only once.  This overall total has been used to calculate the total non-Māori, in order to make comparisons between Māori and non-Māori throughout this report.

Decile

The decile assigned to the school. Students from low socio-economic communities face more barriers to learning than students from high socio-economic communities. Schools that draw their roll from these low socio-economic communities are given greater funding to combat these barriers. The mechanism used to calculate and allocate this additional funding is most often known as school deciles.

Schools are assigned a socio-economic score based on five census derived socio-economic factors. The 10 percent of schools with the lowest scores are considered decile 1 schools, the next 10 percent of schools are considered decile 2 schools, etc. Decile 1 schools have the highest proportion of low SES students.

Population Context

Most of the data in this table was taken from the New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings on Tuesday 5th March 2013.  It includes information about people who stated in the census that they identified as Māori, ether as their only ethnic group or as one of several groups.  More detailed information about Māori by region and by iwi can be found at: http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile-and-summary-reports/ethnic-profiles

Non-Māori data in this table was calculated by subtracting total Māori from total New Zealand population.

Total New Zealand data includes all respondents to the census, including Māori.

Employment rate data was sourced from the September 2015 Household Labour Force Survey and compares Māori to total New Zealand, including Māori.  More detailed information can be found at: http://www.stats.govt.nz/infoshare/default.aspx

Māori in Education - Overview Statistics

This information comes from the roll returns and is current as of 1 July unless otherwise stated.

Early Childhood Education

Enrolment rates show the enrolments as a percentage of the total number of children of that age in the population.

The total number of learners (prioritised ethnicity) has been used to calculate the total non-Māori (excluding 'unknown ethnicity'), in order to make comparisons between Māori and non-Māori.

Data collection and definition change

From 2000 to current (60% of 2014 collection for licensed services), enrolment data describes regular enrolments in ECE licensed services.  

In 2014, the method for data collection changed and around 40% of services completed the Annual Census using the Ministry's new electronic collection tool for ECE: ELI. For these services, the data shown in this workbook relates to attendances in ECE licensed services, not enrolments. This is a change to the definition of the data and means that the 2014 data should not be compared to previous years.

Enrolments in casual education and care services and hospital-based services have historically not been included because they do not have regular enrolments, they are also not included in the attendance data.

Primary and Secondary Education

All results in this report are taken from information publicly available on Education Counts.  For more information on how Māori 2014 results compare to other ethnicities, and on the dimensions used to classify student type, school decile and other factors visit the School Rolls webpage.

National Standards

Where teaching and learning are guided and directed by the New Zealand Curriculum, schools monitor and report on year 1 to 8 students' progress and achievement using National Standards.

Engagement in School: Attendance, Stand-downs and Suspensions

The most recent published survey of attendance was undertaken in Term 2, 2015 (April 20-July 3). 636,147 students were included in the survey sample and attendance data was collected for each student for each day of the term. Other information about the student, and school were also collected, including total response ethnicity..

Students who were enrolled for less than 30 half-days during Term 2 have been excluded from the data.

Students attending regularly are defined as having attended more than 90% of all school time in Term 2 in 2015, where time is measured in half-days.

Students arriving late to class are classified as attending, as the students were present for the class after arriving late. Therefore, to accurately report on students arriving late to class, only classes that were attended are included in this measure.  For more information see the report Attendance in New Zealand Schools, available on Education Counts

Stand-downs: As a consequence of a serious breach of school rules, a school principal can order a student to stand down from school for a period of up to five school days. A stand-down, for any student, can total no more than five school days in any term, or 10 days in a school year. Students return automatically to school following a stand-down.

For very serious breaches of school rules, a principal can suspend a student from attending school until the school board of trustees decides on the consequence for the student. The board may decide to lift the suspension with or without conditions, to extend the suspension, or, in the most serious cases, exclude or expel the student.

Ethnic differences analysis for stand-downs and suspensions uses prioritised ethnicity.

More information about stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions from school can be found in the Indicator section.

NCEA Highest Attainment

School leavers are identified from the Ministry of Education's ENROL system, while the highest qualification status for each leaver is obtained from NZQA. Where a student achieved a non-NQF qualification, highest attainment information is obtained directly from their school.

The number of school leavers with a Level 1 qualification or above includes school leavers who attained:

• NCEA Level 1 or other Level 1 NQF qualification; or
• A non-NQF award at the equivalent of  NCEA level 1 including Accelerated Christian Education (ACE), International Baccalaureate (IB) or Cambridge International exams (CIE),  or another overseas award at Year 11;
• NCEA Level 2 or other Level 2 NQF qualification; or
• A non-NQF award at the equivalent of  NCEA level 2 including Accelerated Christian Education (ACE), International Baccalaureate (IB) or Cambridge International exams (CIE),  or another overseas award at Year 12;
• NCEA Level 3 or other Level 3 NQF Qualification; or
• A non-NQF award at the equivalent of  NCEA level 3 including Accelerated Christian Education (ACE), International Baccalaureate (IB) or Cambridge International exams (CIE),  or another overseas award at Year 13;
• NZ Scholarship or National Certificate at Level 4 or above

as at the end of the school leaver year (eg. 1 March 2014 for the 2013 school leaver year). 

School leavers with a NCEA Level 2 or above or NCEA Level 3 or above qualification includes the school leavers who achieved at that level of NCEA and those who achieved an NQF award or non-NQF level described at the appropriate level as above.

NCEA Level 1 Literacy and Numeracy

In 2013, students were required to obtain 10 literacy and 10 numeracy credits at level 1 to achieve an NCEA Level 1 qualification. This is an increase on the 8 credits previously required to achieve NCEA Level 1. No historical adjustment has been made for this change.

NCEA Level 2

In 2013, for the first time, students were required to obtain 10 literacy and 10 numeracy credits at level 1 to achieve a NCEA Level 2 qualification. Investigation shows that an additional 0.4 percent of school leavers in 2013 would have achieved NCEA Level 2 under the old requirements.

NCEA Level 3 or University Entrance (UE) Award

A level 3 or above qualification or the NZQA university entrance award (university entrance standard) is considered the minimum requirements to enable students to go directly into further tertiary study at degree level.Educational qualifications are also linked to labour force status and incomes.  For example, in 2011, New Zealanders with no qualification possessed two-thirds of the relative earning power of those with a Bachelor degree or higher, on average (OECD, 2013).

Proportion of school leavers with at least a level 3 qualification or a university entrance award:

Numerator: (Data Source: Ministry of Education: ENROL)
The total number of school leavers who attained:

• A NZQA University Entrance award; or
• National Certificate Level 3 (NCEA level 3); or
• A non-NQF award at the equivalent of NCEA level 3 or University Entrance award including Accelerated Christian Education (ACE),
• International Baccalaureate ( IB) or Cambridge International exams (CIE),  or another overseas award at Year 13;
• NZ Scholarship or National Certificate Level 4

as at the time they left school in a given school year.

The highest qualification status for each student is obtained from NZQA. Where a student achieved a non-NQF qualification, highest attainment information is obtained directly from their school.

Denominator: (Data Source: Ministry of Education: ENROL)
The total number of school leavers in a given school year.

School Leavers

School leavers in a given year are students that permanently left school to enter the workforce and/or undertake further education and training outside of the compulsory schooling system sometime between 1 March and the last day of February (inclusive) of that year. School leavers are identified using ENROL. Students counted as school leavers are:

• Domestic students who were aged less than 19 in their first enrolment in ENROL; including alternative education students, students 16 or over on 1 March in the year of interest, and students attending teen parent units.
• Students with leave reason; 'end of schooling' or 'early leaving exemption'
• Students with leave reason 'transferred to another school in New Zealand' or 'transferred to home schooling' but did not reenrol in another school according to ENROL
• Students with leave reason 'gone overseas permanently', who meet the age criteria
• Students who attend for a period of time at the start of the current year but leave before 1 March are counted with the school leavers of the previous year.

This excludes:

• Returning adult students (aged 19 or more) with a year gap in their attendance
• Exchange and International fee-paying students
• Students who successfully transferred to another school in New Zealand or to home schooling
• Deceased students

Alternative education students are counted in the total for leavers but not reported with the school they are funded from. This is to reflect that the funding school may not be the last school the student attended.

School leavers are counted under the last school they attended for at least 70 days. If they did not attend a school for 70 days within the school leaver year, then they are included under a 'transitory leaver' group.

18-year-olds

To boost skills and employment the Government has set a Better Public Service target that 85% of 18-year-olds will have achieved Level 2 or an equivalent qualification in 2017.

Cohort numbers are identified through the Ministry's ENROL database, and based on New Zealand Domestic Students who turned 18 within a calendar year.  Attainment details are sourced from the Ministry of Education School Leaver dataset, New Zealand Qualifications Authority, and Tertiary Single Data Returns (SDRs).

Tertiary Education

Proportion of 25-year-old Māori with a qualification of NZQF Level Four or Above

The information this table is based on has been revised with 2014 data and includes some adjustments to previous years.  The population for Māori is as at 18 years to correct for later out migration while the population for total and non-Māori is as at 25 years.

Employment Rate for Māori

Information in this section is taken from the Statistics New Zealand Household Labour Force Survey (HFLS), customised data and from the Statistics New Zealand paper "The New Zealand labour market during recession" (2012) with reference to 2013 Census data about the age structure of the Māori population.

Destinations of Graduates

Information in this report is based on the paper "The outcomes of tertiary education for Māori graduates" published in June, 2014, looks at the earnings and outcomes for young Māori and non-Māori who completed a qualification in the New Zealand tertiary education system.  It focusses on the differences in post study earnings and destinations between Māori and non-Māori graduates.  It should be noted that the paper does not attempt to explain these differences.  For example it does not examine whether there is a difference in employment type, or in hours worked, between Māori and non-Māori.  More information about the findings and methodology of the report can be found at http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/tertiary_education/education-outcomes/the-outcomes-of-tertiary-education-for-maori-graduates

Additional Tables

Māori Language in Early Childhood Education

Māori Language in Primary and Secondary Education

Māori Language in Tertiary Education

Early Childhood Education

Primary and Secondary Education

Tertiary Education