No easy fix to low school attendance

If children are not attending school regularly, it must be the fault of parents or caregivers, right?

So all we need to do is penalise the adults. Fine them, or if they are beneficiaries, dock their benefits. Such a simplistic and punitive approach to increasing concern about ongoing poor school attendance might be tempting. But would it have much impact on the problem or make life more difficult for those already struggling?

Parents with the money to take their children out of school for overseas holidays might not notice a fine much.

Contrast that with the earnest single mother struggling to hold down a job and doing her darndest but failing to get her recalcitrant teenager to attend school regularly. A fine for her her could be devastating for the family budget. And would it result in her child going to school? It might have the effect of raising resentment and ramping up the problem.

There is no denying poor school attendance is concerning and that parents and caregivers must play their part in turning that around.

An Education Review Office report released this month, "Missing Out: Why Aren’t Our Children Going to School?", shows it was an issue before Covid-19 struck in 2020. Between 2015 and 2019 regular attendance dropped from 70% to 58%.

We do not compare well with our mates across the Ditch, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States or Canada.

In term 2 this year, Covid-19 and other illness resulted in a record-low regular attendance of 39.9% nationally. (Attending more than 90% of classes is the benchmark for regular attendance.) It is small comfort that Otago and Southland had the highest regular attendance at 44%.

The ERO report which surveyed 1133 parents and 2641 pupils, showed that almost one in 10 parents did not see school as that important. Four out of 10 parents were comfortable with their child missing a week or more of school a term, or almost a year of their schooling by the time they reached 16. Some did not see primary school attendance as being as important as secondary, even though that early education lays the foundation for later learning. Attendance has been falling faster in primary schools and in poorer areas.

Many parents and pupils were prioritising family, cultural or special events, holidays, sporting events and the child’s birthday, over school attendance. Seven percent of parents were also keeping their child out of school to look after other family members. A similar percentage had children who were working to earn money during school hours.

Nearly half of parents would keep children out of school for mental health reasons, more than a third would allow them to stay away to avoid bullying and a 10th would let children stay home because they were tired.

The ERO report says part of the solution is schools making learning more engaging, identifying issues early, tackling bullying, racism and discrimination, and providing access to mental health support.

However, it does not see the answer to the problem as something schools can sort out alone, but something requiring action from everybody. Among other things, it considered government agencies, including the Ministry of Education, need to communicate the importance of attendance and the impact of non-attendance, setting clear expectations to the community and all families.

This would include expecting, and supporting, pupils to catch up on any missed learning.

Good relationships between families and schools are vital if there is to be more proactive management of irregular attendance.

Parents are not always aware of how their children’s days off are adding up. Everyone playing a part in turning this around makes sense. As the ERO says, it is complex. As school communities figure out how best to make a difference, we look forward to hearing their success stories so others can learn from them.