‘They don’t do it for fun’: Parents give in-term teacher only days a pass

Friday, 27 September 2024

Illness was a concern if the new government measurements encouraged parents to send their kids to school when still sick, parent Belinda McFadgen says.

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Punitive measures by the Government to raise attendance rates will only create more social issues, one principal says.

Meanwhile parents say it could be a juggle to accommodate teacher only days during term time, but they realised schools didn’t have them “for fun”.

On Thursday the Government announced its Star, or “Stepped Attendance Response”, system to boost low attendance rates, starting in 2026.

Each school would have its own Star plan, with more intensive responses the longer the child was absent, Associate Education Minister David Seymour said.

It would start with a message to the parents, and could lead to the Ministry of Education being called in to fine parents.

If a student was absent for five days, the school would contact their parents to find out why and “set expectations”. After 10 days, senior leadership would be involved, and after 15 days parents could be prosecuted.

Government announces fines and possible prosecution for parents if children's school attendance rates aren't met.

Seymour also called on schools to stop using “teacher only days” – banning them from term time to “play their part in setting a good example”.

Belinda McFadgen, who had a five and 13-year-old, said teacher only days could be difficult during term but “they don’t do it for fun”.

“I quite like giving schools the right to make those decisions – what's best for them.

“Maybe it’s just an example of finding things to fault teachers,” she said of the announcement.

Illness was a concern if the new government measurements encouraged parents to send their kids to school when still sick, McFadgen said.

But having lived in America where punitive measures existed, returning to New Zealand it felt as though parents were actually being treated like adults.

Belinda McFadgen and 5-year-old daughter Mirren at Thorndon School. McFadgen says schools don’t have teacher only days for fun.

“It’s just a judgment of the parents being undermined,” she said.

Another parent at Thorndon School, Nisha Minu, said school was important and children should be required to attend unless there were medical or family emergencies.

But teacher-only days were important for strategic planning and training and Minu believed they were for the benefit of students.

“It’s not easy but we can always make a plan,” she said. “It works if you want to work together.”

Nisha Minu with her 7-year-old son Viaan Aryan says teacher only days can be tricky to manage but believes they are in the best interest of the students.

Seymour said there was a “serious” issue with attendance and if not addressed, people would miss out on education, be less able to work, less able to participate in society and more likely to be on the benefit.

However, to say teacher only days contributed to low attendance was “absolute nonsense” when most teachers spent their evenings and weekends working to meet the needs of their students, including during school holidays, Birchville School principal Robyn Brown said.

Teacher only days were being mandated by the Ministry of Education because teachers needed professional development and to learn the new curriculum they were required to start teaching in less than six months. Any other days were made up for later in the term.

Robyn Brown, Birchville School principal and NZEI Wellington Principal Council Representative, says schools do everything they can to ensure children come to school and punitive measures won’t fix the issue.

“There is so much happening in schools at the moment, and there’s so much blame being laid on [them].“

The idea that schools were not dealing with truancy rates already was “just crazy”, Brown said.

Brown had personally gone to her students’ houses to pick them up and bring them to school. She knew she was no exception in doing so as a primary school principal.

Sickness played a big part in children taking days off school, Brown said.

School attendance is an issue in Aotearoa but it is a complex issue, experts say.

“It only takes that to happen three times in a 10-week term and they already would have missed more than their required minimum five days.”

But while punitive measures might encourage some parents to be more strict abouttheir children’s attendance, it was often a reflection of many families simply struggling to get by.

Children didn’t come to school because they didn’t have any food or rain coats on a wet day, or they needed to babysit for their siblings, Brown said.

“If you’re going to start fining the parents, you’re going to be fining that bottom echelon of society, again, causing even more social issues.”

Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president, said school attendance rates did need improvement but he agreed the issues were complex and often had a lot to do with wider social issues including poverty, housing insecurity, mental health and family violence.

There were also other barriers including bullying, racism, discrimination and accessibility issues that meant school was not an inclusive place for children, Chief Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad said.

“We can’t forget that for too many children and young people, school simply isn’t a safe space,” she said.

“We shouldn’t view school attendance in isolation from these factors.

Seymour said the Star system was designed to be adaptable to every community.

“Every student, parent, school and community has a role in addressing the issue of attendance. The worst thing the Government can do for the most socio-economic deprived students is nothing at all.”