25 August 2021
Bella Farland
[FYI request #16017 email]
Tēnā koe Bella
Thank you for your email of 9 July 2021 to the Ministry of Education, requesting the following
information:
“I would like to request information on the number of Applications for Certificates of
Exemption from Enrolment at a Registered School that were received by the Ministry,
as well as the decisions that were made on them.
Can you please provide the following information?
For each quarter for the previous five years (i.e. Q3 2016 through Q2 2021), how many
Applications for Certificates of Exemption from Enrolment at a Registered School were
received? And in each of those quarters, how many Applications for Certificates of
Exemption from Enrolment at a Registered School were approved, and how many
were declined?”.
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
In New Zealand, all children aged between 6 and 16 years of age are required to enrol in
and attend a registered school. Home education is where parents or legal guardians take
responsibility for the education of their children, instead of enrolling them in school.
If a parent or legal guardian, wish to educate their child at home, they must first get approval
from their local Ministry of Education office. If approval to home educate is granted, the parent
or legal guardian will receive a Certificate of Exemption from Enrolment at a Registered
School. This indicates the applicant is legally responsible for providing, supervising and
monitoring the child’s learning programme. If an application to home educate is for more than
one child, a separate Certificate of Exemption is required for each child.
You can find more information about home education on the Ministry’s website here:
Home education – Parents.education.govt.nz – Practical information about education for
parents and carers
I am providing you with the requested information to you as per the following tables.
OIA: 1265726
National Office, Mātauranga House, 33 Bowen Street, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140. Phone: +64 4 463 8000 Fax: +64 4 463 8001
education.govt.nz
Number of Early Leaving Exemption applications received by year and quarter
received from Q3 2016 to Q2 2021
Year
Quarter
Applications Received
2016
3
290
2016
4
327
2017
1
443
2017
2
353
2017
3
370
2017
4
332
2018
1
428
2018
2
362
2018
3
331
2018
4
435
2019
1
443
2019
2
344
2019
3
378
2019
4
399
2020
1
494
2020
2
734
2020
3
619
2020
4
449
2021
1
553
2021
2
466
education.govt.nz
Number of Early Leaving Exemption applications actioned – with breakdown by status
Approved and Declined by year and quarter actioned from Q3 2016 to Q2 2021
Year
Quarter
Applications Approved
Applications Declined
2016
3
262
6
2016
4
196
6
2017
1
441
8
2017
2
298
15
2017
3
312
20
2017
4
244
23
2018
1
467
12
2018
2
317
20
2018
3
277
7
2018
4
276
18
2019
1
576
22
2019
2
308
16
2019
3
323
25
2019
4
266
17
2020
1
595
14
2020
2
509
11
2020
3
704
24
2020
4
373
20
2021
1
638
29
2021
2
437
17
Please note the following caveats that apply to this information:
• Data has been extracted on 18th August 2021 which is live and subject to change.
• The Ministry has limited data on the historical actioning of applications. The
“Approved/Declined” data has the following caveats:
o “Approved” applications includes applications that are currently active and
currently ceased
o “Declined” applications include applications that are currently declined
o If an application is active or ceased, the year and quarter are based on
when home education started
o If an application is declined, the year and quarter are based on when the
application was declined
• The breakdown of applications cannot be summed together to obtain the
“Received” application number. This is because some applications are not actioned
in the same quarter they were received. Also, applications can have other statuses
beyond approved/declined.
Please note, the Ministry now proactively publishes OIA responses on our website. As such,
we may publish this response on our website after five working days. Your name and contact
details will be removed.
education.govt.nz
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review this
decision. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or Office of the
Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Helen Hurst
Tumu Te Hāpai ō Rāngai | Te Hāpai ō Rāngai
Deputy Secretary
Sector Enablement and Support
education.govt.nz