A 25% decline in the number of children being home-schooled in Otago during the past decade may be due to the quality of education in the region's state schools, a home-school support organisation says.
Ministry of Education statistics show the number of Otago children being home-schooled had decreased from 146 in 2006 to 109 in 2015.
Home Schooling New Zealand (HSNZ) principal Todd Roughton, of Whangarei, said HSNZ was a charitable Christian trust which fielded calls daily from around the country, from people with concerns about the education their children were receiving in local schools.
The trust was set up to offer support to parents who wanted to become home educators.
However, Mr Roughton said the number of complaints coming from Otago was "significantly less'' than from other regions, and believed it was because Otago pupils were well served by their high-quality schools.
"I must say, as a North Islander, the South Island - particularly Otago - is far more conservative.
"The things you don't see is loose youth on the streets, you don't see graffiti everywhere, you don't see properties that are run down and not looked after.
"It's far more socially stable.''
He believed the number of pupils being home-schooled elsewhere in New Zealand was increasing because parents were dissatisfied with NCEA as a qualification, and with bullying and issues surrounding morality in schools.
"Education is in a pretty tragic state.''
However, Kiwi Families Ltd parenting support group director Rochelle Gribble, of Wellington, believed Otago's rural population might be contributing to the decline.
She said Otago had a large rural population, and believed there had been a general shift away from home-schooling by rural families.
''People who are more isolated and rural are more likely to want to send their children to school because there's more contact - there's not 10 families around the road like there would be in a city or town.
''It's much harder for rural and isolated families to home-school because they don't have a social network and there aren't other home-schooling families around to do stuff with.''
Ms Gribble said the overall decline in the school-age population in Otago was also a factor.
Under the Education Act 1989, all New Zealand children have the right to an education.
Sections 20 and 25 of the Act state children aged 6 to 16 must be enrolled at, and attending, a registered school whenever it is open.
However, parents and guardians may apply for a certificate of exemption from enrolment at a registered school for their child under section 21 of the Act.
The Act states: "Children must be taught at least as regularly and well as in a registered school, or in the case of a person who would otherwise be likely to need special education, will be taught at least as regularly and well as in a special class or clinic or by a special service''.
The Ministry of Education must be satisfied of this before issuing a certificate of exemption from enrolment in a registered school.
The reasons for choosing home-schooling are complex, but many parents do it to have a closer relationship with their child, for religious reasons, or because they have a child with special needs.
Other reasons may include having more control over their child's education, or parents' concerns about the teaching offered by registered schools.
