For the first week of secondary school NCEA exams, Otago had an attendance of 84% and Southland had a rate of 78.6%, a small drop from the 2019 pre-Covid-19 rate, which was 90.8% for Otago and 89.1% for Southland.
It was recently reported the average attendance across Auckland, Northland and Waikato during the first four days of exams this year was 55%.
Pupils in those regions are eligible for bonus credits not available to those in the South.
Auckland pupils could earn one bonus credit for every four credits they achieved, up to a maximum of 16 bonus credits at level 1, and 12 at levels 2 and 3.
They were also eligible for unexpected event grades, which took the pupils’ previous grades into consideration if they scored poorly on an exam or did not attend.
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) would calculate a pupil’s final grade based on whichever was higher, the exam grade or the average grade earned throughout the year.
Pupils who did not sit the exam received the grade supplied by the school.
Otago Girls’ High School principal Linda Miller said exam attendance was about the same as usual at the Dunedin school.
She believed the attendance differences could be attributed to her pupils not having access to the extra credits available to those in Auckland and surrounding regions.
Otago Secondary Principals’ Association president and Blue Mountain College principal Lindy Cavanagh-Monaghan said the extra credits was definitely one of the reasons schools up north had much lower attendance rates.
Pupils often planned their exams strategically and did not show up for exams if it would not make a difference to their overall grade.
That was also a possible reason for the declining rate in Otago, as pupils had more chances for pre-exam credits than before.
Some pupils signed up for exams as a backup with little intention to sit them while their internal credits were finalised, she said.
As a pupil it made sense, but for teachers it was ‘‘highly frustrating’’ to waste the effort setting things up for those pupils.
So far, Blue Mountain College had had no issues with attendance, she said.
East Otago High School principal Marcus Cooper said attendance had been great this year, and there were only two pupils who had skipped on some of their exams so far, he said.
Southland Secondary Principals’ Association president Grant Dick could not be reached for comment.
