School decile stats suggest widening gap

Tuesday, May 5th, 2015

Education Ministry figures show the communities around low-decile schools are poorer than ever but better educated.

School deciles are based on five indicators – parents with no qualifications, crowded households, household income, parents receiving income support, and parents with low-skilled occupations.

Decile one schools are the 10 percent of schools with the most students from disadvantaged neighbourhoods as measured by those indicators. Decile 10 schools are the 10 percent of schools with the fewest.

The figures provided to Radio New Zealand show the median value for each of the indicators in each of the 10 decile groups.

At decile one schools, for example, the children come from neighbourhoods where the earnings in 41.7 percent of the households is in the lowest 20 percent once adjusted for the number of people; where 52.4 percent of the households are crowded; where 35.4 percent of parents have no qualifications, 33.3 percent receive income support; and 59.9 percent are in low-skilled jobs.

At decile 10 schools, in contrast, the students come from areas where the earnings in 9.9 percent of the households is in the lowest 20 percent; where 9.4 percent of households are crowded; where 5.7 percent of parents have no qualifications, 4.5 percent receive income
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