A North Canterbury principal says school attendance targets are unrealistic in the present environment.

With a general election looming, politicians have been promising to fix declining school attendance rates.

But Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney said the biggest barriers to school attendance targets were the Ministry of Education’s ‘’inability’' to negotiate a pay settlement with teachers and the mandatory seven-day Covid-19 stand down.

The Ministry of Education’s target is for all students to achieve 90 per cent regular attendance at school.

That equated to just one day absent a fortnight, or six or seven days in a school term.

“Yes, non-attendance is a problem, but it is not because students aren’t attending school, it is because we are coming out of Covid where hardly anybody in any industry is hitting 90 percent attendance,” he said.

“It is a little rich for the Minister of Education to write letters to school principals asking them to get on board with attendance when the biggest factor impacting attendance at the moment is the Government’s inability to sign a contract with teachers.”

Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney.

While there was a lot of talk about non-attendance, Kearney said there was a lack of funding to enable schools to tackle the issue.

Rangiora High School recently employed an attendance officer from school funds to reach out to students in the 70-80 percent attendance category.

Rangiora New Life School principal Stephen Walters said the Ministry of Education should be putting more emphasis on student achievement rather than looking at attendance on its own.

“We looked at our data and attendance in term one was higher than last year, but it is still behind 2019.

“But the interesting thing is even though attendance is lagging, academic performance has been sustained and even improved slightly in some areas.”

He said the Covid experience had led to a change in attitude towards wellbeing.

Rangiora New Life School principal Stephen Walters. Photo / David Hill

“I think Covid has taught us, if you are unwell stay home until you are well.”

Walters said his school moved to “a hybrid learning style” 10 years ago, embracing online learning alongside learning in the classroom.

It allowed students to continue learning and engage with teachers when absent from school.

The results indicated it was working, he said.

Oxford Area School principal Mike Hart said attendance improved significantly in term one this year at 61.9 per cent, compared to 43.7 per cent for term one last year.

“Pre Covid-19 attendance in term one 2019 was 71.7 per cent regular attendance, so we still have improvements to make, but the data so far is trending in the right direction.”

Raising school attendance rates is a top priority, Ministry of Education acting Hautū (leader) Te Tai Runga (south), Kayne Good said.

He said new targets were being developed to tackle unexplained absences.

The focus would be on school notification to whānau on the day of absence and further school action when unjustified absence continues.

Oxford Area School principal Mike Hart. Photo / David Hill

“It is important for families to understand the difference between valid and unjustified reasons for absence,” Good said.

“There are many valid reasons for children to be absent from school, such as being sick or attending a tangi or funeral.

“Some parents keep their children out of school for reasons like birthdays or for extracurricular activities like archery, dance, piano, or horse riding or older students taking care of siblings.”

The Government announced a nationwide strategy, All in for Learning, in June last year.

This multi-year plan includes 13 priority actions.

The strategy aims to increase the number of students attending school regularly from 60 per cent in 2021 to 70 per cent in 2024 and 75 per cent in 2026.

Good said attendance has been decreasing since 2015, affecting all regions, ethnicities, and year levels.

It had worsened as a result of Covid-19, he said.

“Keeping children and young people home from school when they are sick continues to be the right thing to do.

“That’s why the ministry focuses on various initiatives to support moderate and irregular attendance, as well as chronic absence.

“Students were likely to have learning gaps when regularly absent from school, Good said.

“It can be difficult for students to catch up on missed learning, which is why we focus on reducing challenges that might prevent students from attending school regularly.”

Regular attendance referred to students with over 90 per cent attendance - missing fewer than five days of school in a standard 10-week term.

Chronic absence referred to students with 70 per cent or less attendance - missing 15 days or more of school in a term.