Northland principals criticise Government’s school attendance action plan

Northland principals have described the Government’s attendance action plan to tackle truancy as “a nice little soundbite” lacking substance.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced a plan to achieve 80 per cent of students being present for more than 90 per cent of the term by 2030.

Northland principals say the approach has been oversimplified and more time should be dedicated to resourcing schools and understanding individual needs.

As part of the Government’s plan, there would be weekly publishing of attendance data from Term 2, rolling out a communications campaign, clarifying attendance expectations with school boards and updating public health guidance for sick students.

Future proposals include mandating attendance reporting by 2025, developing a traffic light system with clear obligations for non-attending students, making attendance a priority for school boards, as well as using “improved data and analysis” to distinguish drivers of non-attendance.

Seymour said it was vital to fix attendance to avoid future disasters.

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

Principals have said schools are dealing with those issues now and cutting programmes such as Ka Ora Ka Ako (lunch in schools) was a backward step.

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngaringaomatariki principal Reno Skipper said schools were already doing all they could to improve attendance but adding more to the load without resourcing was counterproductive.

Skipper said rewarding students whose attendance had improved and taking a personal approach to truant students has worked at his kura. This has included petrol and food vouchers, or purchasing uniforms for whānau.

Tai Tokerau Principals Association president Brendon Morrisey, principal of Kaitāia Primary School, said there were varied reasons for low attendance.

Improving attendance was best decided by schools, he said.

“My main message is to stop making decisions from the central body that are not aligned with what’s happening locally, and really dedicate more time to learning about that local voice.”

Morrisey said schools know their community’s needs best and they should be resourced to meet those needs.

His school provides free stationery and transport, which he credited to better attendance from previously truant students.

“Give us a chance to create the local solutions.”

While details around how attendance data will be published remain murky, Morrisey said publishing and traffic light ranking of student attendance could be damaging.

Tai Tokerau Principals Association president Brendon Morrisey.

He would prefer to see more support for whānau rather than “kicking them while they’re down.”

“It’s [the plan] a nice little soundbite the public can agree with as if it’s simple and obvious, but it’s not simple and it’s not obvious. It’s complex.”

Morrisey would like to see a less confronting approach adopted, such as putting more resources into attendance officers.

Seymour told Checkpoint this week he could not guarantee more officers nor rule it out.

“If we make it our goal to employ more people and throw more resources and money at it, we lose sight of the real goal which is kids going to school, so yep, more people [employed] is a possibility, not going to guarantee it’s going to happen.”

Hora Hora Primary School principal Pat Newman, who has more than 50 years of teaching experience, said it was clear the action plan was based on the ideas of individuals with the same political philosophy.

He said the future Seymour was talking about was already here and placed emphasis on the need for local voices to be heard when developing plans.

Newman questioned cuts to the lunch in schools programme which has been key to bringing students through the doors.

Hora Hora primary school principal Pat Newman says removal of lunches in schools is counterproductive when the Government wants to improve attendance. Photo / Michael Cunningham

He said a communications campaign would work if employed at a local level and funded by the Government, such as the Let’s Get to School campaign that saw 500 Northland students return to school within the space of a few months.

However, publishing attendance data and ranking students through a traffic light system seemed pointless, he said, when schools were already identifying truant students.

“The biggest problem in learning and attendance is socio-economics. Who decides the socio-economics? The politicians.”

Brodie Stone is an education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.