New insights from an Education Review Office (ERO) study have found one of the biggest drivers for pupils being absent from school is their parents.
ERO Education Evaluation Centre head Ruth Shinoda said in 2022, only two out of five pupils were regularly going to school.
The Covid-19 pandemic had a big impact on attendance, but even before the pandemic, attendance was low and falling, she said.
"We have found that many parents don’t value going to school regularly, and this really matters.
"ERO found that four in 10 parents are comfortable with their child missing a week or more of school a term. This matters.
"Parents who are comfortable with their child missing school are more than twice as likely to have a child who misses school regularly."
Otago Secondary Principals’ Association president Mike Wright said the level of absenteeism in Otago schools was nowhere near as bad as the national statistic.
He said Otago schools had worked hard to counteract the "huge disruptions" caused by Covid-19 over the past three years — particularly on making school more palatable so that pupils wanted to return after the lockdowns.
Ms Shinoda said pupils were more likely to miss school if they found school work too hard, they could not participate in some activities, they disliked people in their class, disliked a teacher or were not interested in what was being taught.
Ms Shinoda said the study showed when parents let children miss school on a particular day, for example to avoid an activity, children were more likely to miss school regularly.
"Letting children miss school sometimes can shape their attitudes to going to school.
"It is really important that children see going to school every day as important.
"A third of children do not, and the research shows this makes them more likely to miss school."
She said it was clear parental attitudes needed to shift.
"Schools cannot solve the attendance crisis alone, but they can help parents to understand the impact of missing school and how often their children are going to school.
"Schools can also help by focusing on the biggest drivers of attendance — for example, they can help learners to see how school is important for their futures."
Yesterday, the Government established an attendance and engagement strategy, aimed at supporting schools to turn around attendance.
The $74 million package provides 82 new attendance officers, further investment in the Attendance Service to support more than 3000 more young people and a commitment to improve and standardise attendance data.
Ms Shinoda welcomed the initiative.
Post Primary Teachers Association acting president Chris Abercrombie also welcomed the initiative, but said more was needed.
More school attendance officers were a welcome addition, but schools needed more pastoral and guidance staff to be "the ambulance at the top of the cliff".
"We desperately need more pastoral and guidance staff in our schools to help identify the students who are struggling for a variety of reasons, and work with these rangatahi and their families through the problems and issues, and keep them engaged at school before we lose them.
"Relationships with students’ whānau and caregivers are hugely important, but teachers simply don’t have the time or the special skills that are often needed."
He also urged the Government to invest more in redesigning alternative education and providing an end-to-end system of support for children and young people at risk of disengaging from education.
