As school attendance falls to historic lows, North Shore Living investigates the causes and what can be done to reverse this troubling trend.
New South Wales is suffering from the worst school attendance on record, with 3.8 million days missed across the public, Catholic and private sectors last year. NSW Education Minister Prue Car says the numbers are a ‘wake up call to prioritise attendance’.
COVID-19 topped the blame game as levels slid to 85.7 per cent, down from 90.2 in 2019 and well below the state target level of 95 per cent. But both schools and the State Government are recognising there is far more at play, with school refusal, digital addiction and teacher shortage, part of a growing trend of student disengagement from school.
Seeking to reverse this curve, is NSW Premier, Chris Minns. In May, the premier launched the government’s Every Day Matters social media and television campaign, which aims to link solid attendance to academic success via ‘dashboards’ to identify and treat absence trends while driving ‘behavioural change’ amongst students and parents.
“It’s our job to ensure we get kids back into classrooms where they belong,” Premier Minns says, warning that, once attendance drops below 80 per cent, students are missing ‘over a month’ of school each year.
Worst affected are public high schools, with the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority finding that just 36 per cent attended more than 90 per cent of the time last year. Catholic and private high schools fared better, at 44.4 and 52 per cent, while private primaries netted 57 per cent compared to public’s 48.7.
Willoughby Girls’ Principal Adrienne Scalese says that a ‘sense of belonging’ stems from solid attendance.
“The quick transition between face-to-face learning to online (during COVID-19), made it hard to return.” Arianna, Year 8 student.
The meaty issue is school refusal or ‘school can’t’–students who feel unable to attend due to depression, anxiety, bullying, sleep disorders or digital addiction. So concerning is this trend, that the Federal Australian Senate is carrying out an inquiry into the National Trend of School Refusal. Meanwhile, parent support group ‘School Can’t,’ has swelled to over 9,000 members, with a 15-week wait to join.
Distinct from truancy, school refusal affects all ages, often starting in early years as separation anxiety. Budget data found that the issue is worse at high schools, specialist schools and in disadvantaged and regional areas, along with those in Years 6 and 7 as the high school transition begins to bite.
Tiffany Westphal from the School Can’t group tells North Shore Living that school attendance difficulties are a ‘stress behaviour not a misbehaviour.’
“It is important to identify sources of stress and seek to reduce these in order to help with student distress,” she says, adding that families and schools ‘should work together with the student’ to identify ‘barriers to attendance.’ Psychologist Jaimie Bloch from Double Bay-based Mind Movers Psychology agrees, saying that while a child ‘might know logically that there’s no danger,’ they can’t override the body’s ‘physiological refusal response.’
Year 8 Lower North Shore student, Arianna, 13, has struggled with attendance, telling us: “I think mental health is a big reason behind young people not feeling able to go to school. Also, the quick transition between face-to-face learning to online (during COVID-19) and then back again, made it hard to return.”
Schools are listening and beginning to prioritise mental health support, says NSW Secondary Principals’ Council’s (NSWSPC) President, Craig Petersen. Schools have started to create ‘close connections with agencies such as Headspace (specialist youth mental health provider),’ that can be ‘wrapped around families to help’.
Chatswood-based Mercy Catholic College, along with other Diocese of Broken Bay schools, will be running a series of attendance-boosting workshops throughout August, aiming to provide parents with the tools they need to support their children. Developing positive routines and establishing good habits will be the focus of the ‘Learning Every Day Counts’ workshops, as missing ‘just one day a fortnight adds up to one year’s lost learning over a child’s school life,’ says the school’s spokesperson.
North Sydney Public School has a support person program which links each child with an adult.
North Sydney Public School Principal, Fiona Davis, tells North Shore Living that regular attendance ‘builds students’ confidence in their own abilities’ and ‘ensures the building blocks for future learning.’
“Our Positive Behaviour for Learning team has rolled out a ‘support person’ program, ensuring that each student has identified at least one adult within the school that they can approach at any point,” she adds. Willoughby Girls High School Principal, Adrienne Scalese, agrees that a ‘sense of belonging’ stems from solid attendance, as well as a ‘connection with friends.’
Chatswood-based Mercy Catholic College will be running attendance workshops throughout August.
Also hitting attendance is the post-COVID-19 jump in home learning, as repeated lockdowns whet appetites for the approach by both parents and students –and many have never returned. Budget figures show that over 9,000 NSW children are now home-schooled, double the number in 2017. But Secondary Principals’ Council’s Mr Petersen warns that the practice is ‘illegal’ unless approved by the NSW Department of Education. “Parents can’t just choose to keep a child at home because it’s easier. It’s not as simple as putting them online and teaching them yourself.”
It’s clear that a one-size-fits-all approach is not going to be the silver bullet for this complex issue. While ‑ will help to highlight the issues, engaging that student voice and personalising the approach is what’s needed by both parents and schools. Reiterating the link between solid attendance and academic and social success, along with steadfast, day-to-day support for school refusers, families and teachers, will make the biggest dent. As psychologist Jaimie Bloch says: “Small things make a big impact.”
By Catherine Lewis