Subj : Seymour proposes traffic light system for school attendance
To   : All
From : News Person
Date : Tue Apr 09 2024 10:03 am

The Government has announced its action plan to lift student attendance
rates, with Associate Education Minister David Seymour proposing a traffic
light system for truant students among other measures.


Announcing the plan alongside Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this morning,
Seymour said he was proud to be part of a government putting attendance
"front and centre" in education policy.


Luxon said education was "without doubt" the thing he had been most focused
on since he began politics three years ago, adding attendance was a "major
problem" in New Zealand and that the numbers were "shameful".


"We are proud to be a government that is prioritising education because
actually, if we want to become more prosperous as a country, there's lot of
high-paying jobs out there, but we need to be able to make sure our kids can
access those jobs into the future."


New Zealand's regular attendance rates, defined as students being in school
over 90% of the time, declined from 69.5% in Term 2 2015 to 39.9% in Term 2
2022.


The most recent results from Term 3 last year put New Zealand's rates at
45.9%.


"If the truancy crisis isn't addressed there will be an 80-year long shadow
of people who missed out on education when they were young, are less able to
work, less able to participate in society, more likely to be on benefits,"
said Seymour.


He added that the Government is making reporting and enforcement action a
"high priority" to reduce non-attendance and truancy.


"This is part of the Government's target of ensuring 80% of students are
present for more than 90% of the term by 2030."


When asked if the current education resources were enough to allow for extra
reporting, Seymour said effective schools would be used as a template.


Getting a better understanding of the key drivers of truancy would allow for
interventions to be more effectively targeted, he said.


Changes that are already being implemented as part of the attendance action
plan include:


Starting publishing of attendance data weekly from the second week of Term 2
this year,
rolling out a communications campaign to improve awareness of the importance
of students attending school from Term 2,
updating public health guidance to help schools and parents to decide if a
student is well enough to attend school,
and clarifying expectations around attendance to school boards.
Seymour said several proposals would be brought to Cabinet at a later date,
including:


Mandating daily reporting of attendance data by Term 1 next year,
developing a Traffic Light System to set out the requirements and
expectations for parents, schools, and the Ministry at different stages of a
student's attendance, with clear obligations for when a student is not
attending,
making attendance a strategic priority for school boards so they have clear
expectations to focus on minimising disruption to students,
and using improved data and analysis to distinguish the drivers of
non-attendance and targeting interventions, particularly for chronic
non-attenders or students that are now not enrolled.
These initiatives would require data improvements, analysis, and developing
advice and inform potential changes to regulation, he said.


"Almost every aspect of someone's adult life will be defined by the education
they receive as a child. If we want better social outcomes, we can't keep
ignoring the truancy crisis," said Seymour.

"An education crisis today will turn into a crime crisis, a vulnerable
children crisis, an economic crisis and an inequality crisis tomorrow.


"We're addressing this by creating a culture where children know if they want
to get anywhere in life, they need to get to school first."

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