KEY POINTS:
The number of suspensions from Auckland schools is higher now than in 2000 - bucking the national trend.
Education Minister Chris Carter will today release figures showing the suspension rates in New Zealand schools have hit an eight-year low.
The latest data shows the age-standardised suspension rate dropped nationally by 17 per cent since 2000, including a 6.1 per cent fall between 2006 and last year.
Mr Carter said principals and teachers could be proud of the figures and partly credited the drop to the Ministry of Education's Student Engagement Initiative - which, since 2001, has helped selected schools to tackle problems that could lead to disciplinary action before they escalate.
"Schools targeted in the SEI have collectively halved their suspension rates since 2000," said Mr Carter.
However, figures for the Auckland region showed suspensions increased between 2000 and last year, rising from 1173 to 1343. The rate per 1000 students - which allows for comparisons over time by accounting for population growth - went from 5.56 to 5.9.
Over the past three years, the number of suspensions in the region has steadily dropped.
Secondary Principals Association president Peter Gall said many in the sector were trying to keep students in school longer.
"It used to be quite common if a student was involved in, say, smoking marijuana at school - bang - immediately they would be suspended," said Mr Gall, also head of Papatoetoe High School. "That doesn't happen quite so much nowadays and schools are taking more of an approach of giving the kid a second chance but putting them on a special education programme and giving them the opportunity to stay at school."
Nationally, the number of suspension cases for drugs fell by 39 per cent between 2000 and last year. During the same period, continual disobedience suspension cases grew by 6 per cent and physical assault cases by 11 per cent.
The latest data shows the number of 15-year-olds granted permission to leave school early halved last year compared with 2006. The ministry strengthened its early-leaving application and approval process in May last year in a bid to cut the numbers.
* Why they went
Last year's top three reasons for suspensions in Auckland:
Continual disobedience: 373 cases.
Drugs: 252 cases.
Physical assault (against a student): 226 cases.
Source: Ministry of Education
