Sally Boyd is a Kairangahau Matua | Senior Researcher at NZCER, with over 20 years of experience in leading qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method research and evaluation studies that span the education and health sectors. She is a member of the team that leads evaluation practice at NZCER, and was the lead researcher who developed the Wellbeing@School survey toolkit.
There is growing recognition that we need to do more to support student wellbeing and mental health at school. I have been researching in the wellbeing space for a number of years, during which I have heard from school leaders, staff, and students about the wellbeing challenges students face, and their solutions. Here I would like to talk about some of the reasons for student absence that are related to social and emotional wellbeing. Then I will discuss how the Wellbeing@School (W@S) toolkit could support schools to devise solutions as part of the new attendance management planning process. This process became a requirement for schools and boards from Term 1, 2026.
Absence and lower achievement are strongly linked
It is well documented that chronic absence and lower achievement outcomes are strongly linked. An analysis of Aotearoa New Zealand Term 2 attendance data concluded:
The overall relationship between attendance and attainment can be best described by a straight line… The first 1.5 days of justified absence across Term 2 is the only ‘safe’ level of non-attendance (where there is a minimal impact on a student’s attainment) we could find evidence for. This implies that any other absence from school is associated with substantially lower attainment – that is, every day matters. (Webber, 2020, p. 1)
A 2024 ERO report highlighted that chronic absenteeism rates (defined as being at school 70% or less of the time) have doubled in the last decade. Although the rates are starting to starting to drop, they are still high.
The reasons behind chronic absence are complex and influenced by a mix of:
- barriers such as lack of access to uniforms or shoes for wet weather
- risk factors such as poverty, issues with safety or engagement at school, physical health challenges, and issues related to social (such as relationship challenges) and emotional wellbeing (such as anxiety or depression)
- protective factors (which can be the opposite of risk factors, and act to keep students at school) such as a sense of safety and belonging at school, and caring teachers.
Wellbeing is a key piece of the attendance puzzle
As well as student absence, schools are also dealing with a connected concern: increasing mental health challenges. High levels of student mental health need are shown in recent Aotearoa New Zealand student survey data. This is reflected in NZCER research; providing support for vulnerable students was the top-ranked issue in the recent NZCER national surveys of secondary (2022) and primary (2024) school principals.
Falling attendance in SMS data can be the first visible sign at school of a wellbeing issue that might be hidden, such as anxiety. So let’s take a look at what we know about the social and emotional wellbeing factors related to student attendance in Aotearoa New Zealand. A 2024 analysis by ERO identified a range of school-related risk factors for attendance, including students:
- not getting enough support
- feeling socially isolated or not feeling like they belong
- experiences of bullying behaviour
- not having good relationships with teachers.
In addition, an associated IDI analysis identified student-related risk factors such as having accessed mental health or addiction services.
Similar findings appear in international studies. One meta-analysis found 44 risk domains associated with absenteeism. By my count, at least eight could be categorised as related to emotional wellbeing, and six to social wellbeing. A recent 2025 UK Department for Education (DfE) report showed persistent mental health challenges contribute to absenteeism. They identified experiences of bullying behaviour as one of the risk factors for poorer mental health. We know that Aotearoa New Zealand has high rates of bullying behaviour compared with other countries (Ministry of Education 2017, 2023).
Clearly, there is a wide range of social and emotional wellbeing-related issues that impact on student attendance in Aotearoa New Zealand schools, which aligns with what we see globally.
Knowing the drivers of non-attendance helps plan solutions
A recent article from my fellow NZCER researcher Mohamed Alansari also explored the links between attendance, engagement, and achievement. He noted that:
"the conversation around increasing attendance is not the same as the conversation around reducing non-attendance… and that… the trick to improving attendance is in asking the ‘right’ questions of the data – less about the problem, and more about the solution."
Wellbeing-focused solutions include thinking about the barriers, and risk and protective factors, which influence groups of students and individuals at each school. In terms of wellbeing-related solutions, both the ERO and UK DfE reports suggest that one pathway to increasing attendance is through strengthening the school wellbeing environment. Recommendations to this effect include:
- working on fostering students’ sense of belonging, safety, and enjoyment at school
- building stronger positive and trusting relationships with teachers, as well as peers
- increasing students’ access to mental health services
- doing more to prevent bullying behaviour.
Importantly, both ERO and the UK DfE point towards nuanced and multi-layered solutions including:
- noticing early signs of declining attendance (e.g., an Aotearoa New Zealand example is flagging dropping attendance in the school SMS, and following this up with a conversation with each student about their situation and support needs)
- understanding the different drivers of non-attendance for groups or individual students and tailoring responses to their needs and contexts.
To do this, schools need good data systems in place and the ability to design just-in-time responses. If the goal is to reduce and prevent non-attendance related to social and emotional wellbeing, the focus could be on both strengthening known protective factors and on seeking to understand what students are avoiding, what they are struggling with, and what would make school a place they want to return to.
How can Wellbeing@School data support attendance planning?
NZCER manages the Wellbeing@School (W@S) toolkit; a free resource for schools that can play a practical role in supporting the wellbeing — attendance —achievement connection in three main ways:
1) Making aspects of wellbeing visible and measurable
School leaders often have strong intuitions about what’s happening in their school. But analysing local needs and planning for the future is easier when you have data that shows patterns. The W@S toolkit provides a way to systematically gather student and teacher perspectives and compare data over time.
2) Helping schools check protective factors
W@S data can contribute to attendance planning conversations by supporting schools to explore which evidence-based protective factors are well-embedded, as well as identify those that could be enhanced. W@S surveys ask about factors such as a sense of belonging, and feeling included, safe, supported, and cared for at school. The surveys also include questions about risk factors such as the extent of bullying behaviour.
The intervention triangle below is a helpful way to think about student needs when planning strategies for different thresholds of attendance (as specified in the attendance plan requirements as 5, 10, or 15 days of absence within a term). W@S data is best positioned as a core part of Tier 1, which is about preventative actions aimed at all students (i.e., they are “universal”). The idea here is that if more effort is put into prevention for all students, in the future less effort will be needed at Tier 2 and 3 to support students with more entrenched patterns of absence.
3) Providing a review cycle to support sustained change
W@S guides schools through a step-by-step review process. Engaging in a continuous review cycle supports sustained change — which matters because improving interrelated areas such as wellbeing, attendance, and achievement is not about one-off actions or initiatives — it typically requires a multi-faceted plan and a sustained effort. The use of W@S data can be built into the cyclical process of reviewing the attendance management plan.
Supporting students’ wellbeing encourages attendance
When students feel safe, connected, and supported, they are more likely to attend and enjoy school. The evidence doesn’t suggest single or one-size-fits-all solutions to raise attendance. Instead, it points to using research and data, alongside your knowledge of your students and community, to design responses that build protective factors, minimise risk factors, and remove barriers to attendance.
Overall, W@S can support schools strengthen the social and emotional environments that support learning. As the New Zealand Curriculum – Te Mātaiaho notes, “our social and emotional wellbeing directly impacts our ability to learn new knowledge” (Ministry of Education, 2025, p.15).