- Hon David Seymour
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government is going to take a firmer approach to school attendance.
The Ministry of Education is ready to pursue prosecutions of parents who repeatedly refuse to ensure their children attend school.
"The Ministry of Education is proactively contacting Attendance Service providers and schools to ensure parents who repeatedly refuse to send their children to school are referred to the Ministry," Mr Seymour says.
"Prosecution is a reality for parents who refuse to send their children to school and ignore supports to ensure their children are in class and learning.
The Ministry will not prosecute parents of students who are absent because of chronic illness or health conditions associated with a disability, or who are genuinely engaging with a school and the supports offered.
"Last year I directed the Ministry to exercise its powers and take a more active role in prosecutions to make them viable. I encourage school leaders to seek that support when all other measures have failed" Mr Seymour says.
"Although we are facing an attendance crisis, green shoots are present, and we need to keep building on them. In every term in 2024 attendance improved on the same term in 2023.
"I expect this momentum to continue as phases of our attendance action plan come into force. For example, it will be mandatory for schools to have their own attendance management plan, aligned with the Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) (STAR) in place by Term 1 of 2026.
"The basic premise of the STAR is that no child is left behind. The STAR clarifies the roles and responsibilities that school leadership, boards, parents and the Ministry have in supporting students to attend school.
"Around 10% of students are absent for 15 days or more in a school term. Students in that bracket would trigger the 'red light' in the general framework. At this point, prosecution would be considered a valid intervention. This means every day at school is important, and interventions will follow if absences build up.
"Attending school is the first step towards achieving positive educational outcomes. Positive educational outcomes lead to better health, higher incomes, better job stability and greater participation within communities. These are opportunities that every student deserves."
