School non-attendance: Chronic truancy at ‘crisis point’ as Education Review Office calls for reform

• More than 80,000 students missed more than three weeks of school in Term 2 this year.
• The Education Review Office calls for reforms to address chronic absenteeism in schools.
• Chronic absence has doubled in secondary schools and nearly tripled in primary schools.

Tens of thousands of “chronically absent” students are missing weeks of school – and the Education Review Office (ERO) says it has reached crisis point.

In the past decade, chronic truancy has doubled in secondary schools and nearly tripled in primary schools.

A new report released today, “Left Behind: How do we get our chronically absent students back to school?”, reveals more than 80,000 students missed more than three weeks of school in Term 2 this year.

The ERO, tasked with reviewing and publicly reporting on the quality of education and care of students in New Zealand, is calling out the system set up to get those young people affected back to school – labelling it ineffective.

ERO head of Education Evaluation Centre, Ruth Shinoda, said: “The number of students who are chronically absent from school is at crisis point and is damaging students’ futures.

“Over half of students who are chronically absent from school do not go on to achieve NCEA Level 2. They have higher rates of offending, are more likely to be victims of crime and are more likely to live in social and emergency housing as adults.”

A chronically absent student is one who misses more than 30% of school a term – more than three days a fortnight.

In 2015, the percentage of chronic absence reported in Term 2 was 5%. This year, that figure stood at 10%, with one in 10 students determined to be chronically absent.

“Chronic absence rates have doubled in secondary schools and nearly tripled in primary schools since 2015,” the report says.

Risk factors increasing the likelihood of students missing large chunks of school have also been revealed and include previous poor attendance, offending and being in social or emergency housing.

Physical and mental health issues, wanting to leave school and simply finding it hard to get up in the morning were also cited.

One young person interviewed for the report said: “When you have multiple physical and mental health issues, it’s hard for people who haven’t experienced those things to really understand.”

ERO calls for substantial reform

The ERO wants increased focus on preventing youngsters from missing out on school rather than focusing on the Ministry of Education’s Attendance Service programmes.

The report acknowledges the work of Attendance Service providers who work with schools to get students back in class, but says they are not set up to succeed.

Shinoda said Attendance Service caseloads ranged from 30 to more than 500 cases and funding had not increased to match rising levels of chronic absence.

“Action is too slow and students fall through the gaps. Half of schools do not refer students to Attendance Service and too often intervention is too late.”

In September, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced a new anti-truancy policy – the Stepped Attendance Response scheme or Star – which would be mandatory for all schools from 2026. Star uses an escalating system of notifications and interventions as absence time increases.

Seymour said the report reinforced that action was needed to tackle chronic school absence, and the Government was addressing issues raised.

“The ERO report states that there is a lack of understanding of the implications of truancy, interventions are occurring too late and only once non-attendance is firmly embedded, and that there is inadequate information sharing between agencies which puts strain on attendance services.

“We’re setting frameworks for timely interventions from schools, and I’ve directed the Ministry of Education, with the active co-operation of the Ministry for Social Development, Oranga Tamariki, police, Kāinga Ora, and Te Puni Kōkiri to develop robust information-sharing agreements so that staff can share appropriate information once a student has been identified as needing support.”

The report also says that schools had difficulties with the “complex and costly” prosecution process.

“I have directed the ministry to take a more active role in the prosecution. I reserve the right to look at an infringement scheme in the future if this approach doesn’t work,” Seymour said.

The MoE is also internally reviewing the effectiveness of its support for the Attendance Service, he said.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour announcing the Stepped Attendance Response scheme policy this year. Photo / Alyse Wright

Post Primary Teachers’ Association president Chris Abercrombie said governments need to be brave enough to address underlying causes of chronic non-attendance, including poverty, housing insecurity and mental health.

This included integrated and funded solutions involving “gateway, alternative education and activity centres, pastoral care and learning support”.

Shinoda said a key recommendation to increase the focus on preventing students from becoming chronically absent required additional funding to match the level of need.

“We must do more to prevent students missing out on their education.”

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