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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has said parents need to “wake up” and tackle low school attendance.
The comments follow a ministerial briefing which revealed “high levels of disassociation from school”.
He said National had done its bit to improve school performance by introducing a cellphone ban.
Luxon made the comments during a visit to Browns Bay School, where he said that parents needed to take responsibility for their children and their low attendance.
“Wake up and talk to your kids and get them to school,” he said.
The Ministry of Education briefing to incoming minister Erica Stanford notes that “a feature of the post-Covid environment, here and overseas, is high levels of disassociation from school and early learning, challenging behaviour and a marked increase in anxiety as well as more severe mental health trauma for young people.”
It said out-of-school factors contributed to this, as did the capacity of the education workforce.
”There are some big system shifts required, within schools and beyond, if the schooling system is able to respond to the significant social and economic shifts in a post-pandemic world.”
Luxon’s school visit comes at the same time briefings are released to incoming Government officials.
A key point in one of these briefings shows funding will run out for school lunches at the end of the year, but Luxon has confirmed the Government will continue to fund school lunches beyond the end of the year. The scheme costs $330 million per year.
They were committed to the lunch programme, he said.
Addressing some of the other briefings, Luxon said the previous Government ran down the police force.
”We are here to make the police system work,” he said.
When asked about whether it was right if police were reportedly resorting to going to foodbanks, Luxon said they needed to grow the economy.
”If we can’t get our economic engine running, we can’t do the things we need to do.”
He said there was a police pay rise negotiation ongoing, so it was not right for him to comment.
Luxon also spoke about Māori, saying every Waitangi conversation has provocation and conversation, but that his Government wants Māori to do well.
They had built a good relationship with iwi groups, he said.
Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford are at the school on Auckland’s North Shore as the Government moves to implement new education policies for primary and intermediate schools to deliver at least an hour a day of maths, reading and writing starting from the beginning of the school year.
Stanford earlier said National’s target was for at least 80 per cent of students to be at the standard expected in the school curriculum by the time they finished intermediate.
Luxon also used his first school visit as Prime Minister last year to reiterate his intention to ban mobile phones during class time.
Stanford announced the ban would apply from term two, by which point all schools would be required to have a cellphone policy in place.
She said, while the policy officially took effect then, the expectation was that most schools would implement the policy from the start of the school year.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford visit Manurewa Intermediate School last year. Photo / Jason Dorday
Schools could decide for themselves how to apply the policy.
“Options that have been successfully used in some schools include having students hand in their cellphones before class or leaving them in their lockers or bags for the day. Exemptions will be allowed for students with health conditions or in special learning circumstances,” Stanford said.
While many schools were already offering the hour of maths, reading and writing, it needed to be applied consistently across schools, she said.
An expert education panel is currently redesigning the English and maths curriculum for primary school students.
Stanford said the review intended to build on the work that had already been done, rather than to start over.
“The aim is to ensure teachers have the clarity and tools needed to teach these core subjects brilliantly. Work will be done in the first half of 2024, ready for implementation in 2025,” Stanford said.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visits Browns Bay School. Photo / Dean Purcell
Some schools will have longer to implement the hour-a-day policy, including kura kaupapa which have until term 3 - an extension given to allow for consultation.
Specialist schools will have an extra year to implement it to ensure the model used is the best for their students.
There was a strong focus on education in National’s 100-day plan which was announced in November, including a number of education initiatives including to begin disestablishing Te Pukenga, the polytech mega-merger.
Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.
