Gisborne's truancy rates New Zealand's second highest

Students jumping fences, possibly to avoid school. Gisborne is in the unenviable position of having the second-highest truancy rates in the country. Photograph by Michelle Hyslop.

GISBORNE'S truancy rates are double that of the national average and second-worst in the country.

Ministry of Education figures show an estimated 79,000 children were absent across the country each day when schools were surveyed during the middle week of June last year, and nearly half of them were wagging.

The regional breakdowns of truancy figures are in two main categories — total unjustified absence rates and frequent truants.

The unjustified absence rate nationally in 2014 was at 4.6 percent, the highest rate in a decade, despite the introduction of new truancy services in 2013.

Gisborne sits at nearly double this rate at 8.6 percent, the worst in the country behind Northland at 8.7 percent.

The region’s frequent truant rate for 2014 is also around double the national standard at 3.1 percent, compared to 1.4 percent nationally. This is second again to Northland’s rate of 3.4 percent.

When it comes to the actual number of students in Gisborne, last year the roll sat at 9260. This means there were about 287 frequent truants and 797 unexplained absences.

President of Gisborne Principals Association Paul Sadler says truancy rates can be attributed to various challenges in the community.

“These challenges can include unemployment, poverty, historical anxieties around education and also parenting skills and confidence.”

Mr Sadler says likewise, there is no one reason impacting truancy rates in the region.

“As a community we cannot blame the traditional perception around naughty kids who are bunking.”

Mr Sadler says where poverty is a factor in a family, parents might be embarrassed at having no money for food or lunches, so they keep children at home.

Where there are historical anxieties, parents might feel that because school was not a good experience for them, it will not be for their child either.

“An increasing trend that is also occurring is parents and whanau are keeping their children at home for company and because they will miss them.”

Schools working to raise attendanceMr Sadler says all schools in the region are working to raise student achievement and attendance.

“We want and need parents and whanau to understand that school is a very different place from the time they were at school — it is an exciting and beneficial place for their children.

“We need to support whanau in understanding that time away from school is reducing their child’s ability to reach their learning and life potential.”

Working as a community together to find big picture solutions, instead of schools working in isolation, is something Mr Sadler is passionate about.

“The growing social and emotional needs of learners and their whanau is placing a great strain on school resourcing and social agencies.

“I believe there is a real need for government resourcing for schools to have school-based support staff whose role is to foster partnerships and support for whanau and children.”

MoE head of sector enablement and support Katrina Casey, says it is too early to know if the increases were a trend or merely a blip in the statistics.

Ministry figures also showed there was more truancy on Mondays and Fridays than other days, and that Maori and Pasifika children were absent the most.