![\"Education](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/erica-stanford-getty-IUKHC252ZZFFTJSZQIBAMHL62E.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAbout 5000 students a year would have to stay at school longer under a National plan to make teens finish Year 11 before they can leave, starting in 2028 if re-elected.<\/p>\n
Party leader Christopher Luxon and education spokesperson Erica Stanford announced the policy in Auckland\u2019s Northcote electorate this morning, alongside a plan for nationally consistent school start and finish dates.<\/p>\n
Students can currently leave school once they turn 16, and many reach that birthday during Year 11, which was currently the year teenagers would gain NCEA Level 1.<\/p>\n
Luxon said National wanted those students to stay on, earn a qualification and leave with the literacy and numeracy they needed to get a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want 16-year-olds dropping out to sit on the couch. Staying in school isn\u2019t a burden, it\u2019s a head start to higher incomes and more job opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students would have to stay in school at least until the end of Year 11. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Under the policy, students who turn 16 during Year 11 would have to finish the year. <\/p>\n
Those who turn 16 in Year 12 would still need to stay until their birthday.<\/p>\n
Stanford said the last months of Year 11 mattered because the new foundational award in literacy and numeracy would be assessed at the end of the year. <\/p>\n
From 2028, Year 11 would also include compulsory English, maths and science teaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose few months at the end of Year 11 are crucial. We have now got a year-by-year, knowledge-rich curriculum. They were missing out on crucial learning,” she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe foundational award in literacy and numeracy… is set at the end of the year and based off the whole year\u2019s learning. That\u2019s why we need them to stay to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Education Minister Erica Stanford with Prime Minister Chris Luxon. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n
The change ties in with National\u2019s plan to scrap NCEA.<\/p>\n
National has also released its full education manifesto earlier today alongside the announcement around school leaving and school dates changes,<\/p>\n
Exemptions to stay<\/p>\n
Students heading into a job, apprenticeship or training would still be able to apply for an early leaving exemption. Stanford said about 1000 students a year were signed out this way, from a cohort of around 65,000.<\/p>\n
She rejected concerns the policy could hold back teenagers bound for trades training.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is quite a process. You need to fill in forms to show that you are going into further training or study. You can\u2019t just be going to nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Stanford, 1106 exemptions had been approved in 2025, about 90% of them for further education or training.<\/p>\n
ERO report says attitudes to being in school have shifted markedly, but not everyone is convinced. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Labour leader Chris Hipkins, a former education minister, responded to the policy at a campaign event today. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to keep kids in education and training for as long as we can to give them the skills that they need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But he suggested examining if the exemption process might need to be made easier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to say to kids who don\u2019t enjoy school and don\u2019t thrive at school that they shouldn\u2019t go into an apprenticeship. That\u2019s actually a really important outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about teenagers who leave school to help support their families, Luxon said \u201cwe have enough support systems in place for kids to complete\u201d. <\/p>\n
Same dates for every school<\/p>\n
National would also set consistent start and end-of-year dates for all schools from 2028.<\/p>\n
Parents of students who were absent due to chronic illness or health conditions associated with a disability, or who were genuinely engaging with a school and the supports offered, wouldn’t be prosecuted. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n
Stanford said she knew the problem firsthand, having had children at more than one school. Schools currently have a start window of about two weeks.<\/p>\n
She said some schools had also been closing at random times during the year and adding days at the end, which she said was not allowed under the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe end of the year, around Christmas time, is not the best time for learning. We need students to be at school all year, every day, learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hipkins said schools were already supposed to have standardised holidays.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not really sure what the problem is they\u2019re trying to fix, other than the fact that some schools, particularly secondary schools, choose different start and end dates… we pretty much have standardised term dates now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About 5000 students a year would have to stay at school longer under a National plan to make…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11508,84,42,11507,43,135,40,38,41,39,270122],"class_list":["post-627365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-christopher-luxon","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-national-party","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-vote-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}