An effective system tackling absenteeism should have educators at its centre

Principals are experts in their communities and with an investment in resourcing can work with whānau to address chronic absence in schools, says education union NZEI Te Riu Roa.

An Education Review Office (ERO) report on chronic absenteeism advocates reforming the current system tasked with getting students back to school, including monitoring and enforcement measures.

But principals say that while a robust monitoring and enforcement system is important, an effective reformation of the system should place principals and whānau at its centre, focus on increased resourcing so schools can meet their individual needs, and address wider socioeconomic inequities.

NZEI Te Riu Roa President, Mark Potter, says “the weaknesses identified in the current system are down to either lack of resourcing or socioeconomic factors that contribute to absenteeism like trauma and poverty.”

“Principals know what their role is and what needs to be done to tackle this. They know what constitutes chronic absence and how to effectively communicate expectations. What principals are lacking is the support needed to manage absenteeism in their schools. In many cases, students are lacking suitable support to ensure they can attend school and learn effectively, and the Government agencies meant to be helping address this have had their resources stripped bare. Government need to work with principals to understand their needs and the needs of the child and their whānau.”

The union also highlights concerns that the report will be weaponised by Ministers to introduce punitive, alienating, or unhelpful measures which work against whānau and schools.

“Principals can tell you exactly what support is needed to improve the system and it’s not removing teacher-only days, penalising parents or demoting Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the classroom", says Mr Potter.

"To put into place the system ERO is describing – where schools work with parents, whānau and Government agencies to get chronically absent kids back into the classroom – takes funding and for Government to listen to the individual needs of a school. What works successfully for one school may not work for another. Educators need to be listened to when they say what their specific needs are. The needs of rural schools will be different to urban schools. Kura Kaupapa Māori or Ngā Kura Kura ā-iwi (who were not visited as part of the data gathering) will have their own specific needs.”

“Instead of funneling money to the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff once ākonga have left the education system, let’s get that investment happening sooner in the lives of these tamariki. Education is not in a vacuum and there needs to be a society wide approach of addressing inequality.”