The Government is rolling out measures to increase school attendance rates that may see parents being fined or prosecuted if they don’t ensure their child is going to class.
And Oranga Tamariki and the police would get involved to address a situation involving a pupil who’s chronically absent.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour revealed the move during a visit to east Auckland this morning, September 26.
Speaking to reporters near Botany Downs Secondary College, he said the Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) system will be used to get kids back in the classroom.
“Any student who reaches a clearly defined threshold of days absent will trigger an appropriate and proportionate response from their school and the Ministry of Education,” Seymour says.
“New Zealand attendance rates are low by national and international standards.
“In 2023, 80.6 per cent of students in England and 61.6 per cent of students in Australia were attending using a measure similar to the term 2 New Zealand regular attendance rate, which was only 47.1 per cent.
“If this issue isn’t addressed there will be an 80-year long shadow of people who missed out on education when they were young, are less able to work, less able to participate in society, more likely to be on benefits. That’s how serious this is.
“The basic premise of the STAR is that no child is left behind. Every student, parent, teacher and school has a role to play.
“Each school will develop their own STAR system to suit their community and school.”
Some examples of how interventions could work are:
- 5 days absent: The school to get in touch with parents/guardians to determine reasons for absence and set expectations.
- 10 days absent: School leadership meets with parents/guardian and the student to identify barriers to attendance and develop plans to address this.
- 15 days absent: Escalating the response to the Ministry of Education and steps to initiate prosecution of parents could be considered as a valid intervention.
Seymour says since he became the minister responsible for attendance, he’s visited numerous schools to see how they’re addressing the problem.
Some schools have an approach that’s functioning well, but many don’t.
“It will be mandatory for all schools to have an attendance management plan based on STAR from the beginning of the 2026 school year.
“The Ministry of Education will work with schools, the Attendance Service, non-government agencies and other Government agencies to streamline this.
“The ministry will also provide best practice templates for attendance plans and toolkits for dealing with absent students, depending on the reasons for absence.
“Schools will have to play their part in setting a good example as well. This means not taking teacher-only days during term time.
“Under existing regulations, and terms in the union contracts, teacher-only days are only legally allowed to be held out of term time, unless authorised by the Minister of Education.
“I’ve asked the ministry to collect data on when a school is open or closed for instruction for the full day, and for each year group, during term time.
“It’s critical the entire system works cohesively to ensure education is respected and valued by students and lost instruction time is made up.
“I’ve also directed the ministry to take a more active role in the prosecution process. I reserve the right to look at an infringement scheme in the future if this approach doesn’t work.
“With more reliable and timely data being made available, the next phase of improving student attendance will be further understanding why students don’t attend.”
