Speaking this afternoon at the launch of a new attendance strategy, Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti said the Government had decided "enough is enough" and it needed to turn things around. Video / NZ Herald
Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti claims National Party leader Christopher Luxon doesn’t understand how school attendance works in his dismissals of the impact of Covid-19.
This morning, Luxon repeated the statement that just 40 per cent of children are attending school in what he described as a “moral and social” failure and called for further resourcing of truancy officers.
“We have 60 per cent of our kids not at school regularly, we have 100,000 chronically absent and I just want New Zealand to understand those numbers because that is really incredibly sobering,” he told the AM Show.
He also went on to say principals had shown a “mixed standard of leadership” on the matter, while lauding the efforts made by Manurewa Intermediate School in Auckland. Luxon did not mention how Covid-19 could influence attendance levels.
The definition of regular attendance was more strict than some might think.
As per the Ministry of Education, a child did not meet the threshold of being classed as a regular attendee if they were absent more than five days per term, or roughly one day each fortnight.
Luxon’s 40 per cent figure was correct - the latest Ministry of Education data showed overall 39.9 per cent of all students were attending school regularly in term 2 of this year. That’s compared to roughly 60 per cent in term 2 of 2021.
What the data didn’t include was an assessment of the impact of Covid-19, which would cause children to stay home if they tested positive or if someone in their household did.
Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
On June 1 this year - midway through term 2 - there were more than 8000 new Covid-19 cases that day.
On June 1 last year, there were just six new cases with a seven-day rolling average of one case per day.
While there was no data held by the Ministry of Education to prove the roughly 20 per cent difference between the two terms was thanks to Covid-19, Tinetti believed it was a fair connection to make.
Tinetti, speaking to the Herald, said she was concerned by Luxon’s comments.
“I don’t think he understands attendance and how it works at schools,” she said.
“In fact, the school [Luxon] talks about this morning also had a big issue because that’s the same school that we launched our attendance strategy at and they also had an issue with attendance in term 2.”
She was particularly disappointed by Luxon’s criticism of principals.
“Attendance is something that’s really complex, [principals] are working really hard.
“To hear that this morning is just sort of saying, ‘You’re not working hard enough’, when they’re working extremely hard.”
Despite her criticism of Luxon, Tinetti was quick to clarify 60 per cent of children regularly attending school was not an acceptable level.
The regular attendance target for 2024 was 70 per cent, with the aim to increase that to 75 per cent by 2026.
Speaking to media this afternoon, Luxon said he had “zero tolerance” and wanted no excuses for poor school attendance.
“We’re not the only country in the whole of the world that had Covid and the reality is, we’re sick of excuses.”
He referenced the need for the Government to devote more resources to address school attendance, stronger leadership from principals and parents taking responsibility for getting their children to school.
It followed a detailed analysis by the Heraldon attendance levels, which have been deemed “hugely concerning” by Post Primary Teachers’ Association Te Wehengarua president Melanie Webber.
