Socio-Economic Decile

Decile, Socio-Economic Decile or Socio-Economic Decile Band is a widely used measure in education in New Zealand used to target funding and support to more needy schools.

The measure is calculated using the 5 yearly general census, with the following factors:^[1]

1. Household income
2. Occupation
3. Household crowding
4. Educational qualifications
5. Income support

This gives a broad measure of the relative poverty, or aggregated socio-economic (or social class), of the parents or care-givers of students at the school, with decile 1 schools being the 10% of schools with the lowest socio-economic communities - and decile 10 schools being at the other end of the scale.

The measure is only used for the funding of compulsory education, but a number of different central government funding streams and support services to schools are strongly affected by the decile rating of a school - with more funding available to lower decile schools. These funding and support measures include:^[2]

1. Targeted Funding for Educational Achievement (TFEA) (Deciles 1-9)
2. Special Education Grant (SEG) (Deciles 1-10)
3. Careers Information Grant (CIG) (Deciles 1-10)
4. Kura Kaupapa Maori Transport (Deciles 1-10)
5. Priority Teacher Supply Allowance (PTSA) (Deciles 1-2)
6. National Relocation Grant (NRG) (Deciles 1-4)
7. Decile Discretionary Funding for Principals (Deciles 1-4)
8. Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLBs) Learning Support Funding (Deciles 1-10)
9. RTLBs for years 11-13 (Deciles 1-10)
10. School Property Financial Assistance scheme (Deciles 1-10)
11. Study Support Centres (Deciles 1-3)
12. Social Workers in Schools (Deciles 1-5)
13. District Truancy Service (Deciles 1-10)

See also

• Social class in New Zealand

References

1. ^ "How The Decile Is Calculated". New Zealand Ministry of Education. http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?layout=document&documentid=7697&indexid=11565&indexparentid=3963. Retrieved on 2009-04-03. 
2. ^ "What Resources are Affected by Deciles?". New Zealand Ministry of Education. http://www.minedu.govt.nz/educationSectors/Schools/SchoolOperations/Resourcing/OperationalFunding/Deciles/FrequentlyAskedQuestionsAboutDeciles/What_resources_are_affected_by_deciles.aspx. Retrieved on 2009-04-03. 

External links

• Information about deciles from Kiwi Families