Holidays not truancy problem, says Luxon
National Party leader Christopher Luxon has doubled down on comments saying parents need to be held responsible for low school attendance rates.
However, during an interview with Stuff, Luxon disputed claims from a recent report that found that parents taking their kids out of school for family holidays was part of the problem.
‘‘That’s not the core issue here. The core issue is parents not getting their kids to school on a regular daily basis.’’
Luxon said while parents pulling their kids out of school for travel might be an issue for some higher-decile schools, it was not the case for most others.
‘‘Go see some decile one and two schools, see how families are dealing with the cost-of-living crisis,’’ he said.
‘‘That is not the reason they’re taking kids out of class.’’
His comments follow a recent study by the Education Review Office that found New Zealand children miss more school compared with overseas counterparts.
Families taking children out of school for holidays was one of many issues raised, with the study finding nearly half of all parents (46%) were likely or very likely to keep their child out of school for a short family holiday for one to two days.
More than a third of parents (35%) were likely or very likely to keep their child out of school to go on holiday for one or more weeks.
Parents gave a variety of reasons for taking holidays in the school term including overseas family reunification after Covid-19, the cost of travel during school holidays, and the view that travel was a learning experience.
One parent said they didn’t hesitate to book a holiday during the term time: ‘‘I don’t have an issue pulling them out. What they would gain from an overseas trip [is] learning experiences.’’
Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti, a former principal, said it was ‘‘absolutely not acceptable’’ for parents to take their kids out of school for holidays.
She said the report showed there was an issue with people having a ‘‘lack of regard around schooling and education’’.
She acknowledged there was an issue with attendance but said there were other contributing factors, such as Covid.
Graeme Yule, the headmaster of Scots College, said school attendance was quite strong but the school had also seen an increase in families travelling during term time. In most cases, this involved taking their children out for a week at most, or leaving and returning to school a day late to get cheaper fares.
The school had been supportive, recognising there were mental health and
wellbeing benefits to children reconnecting with family overseas.
Travel had been especially important for many of the school’s international students, some of whom hadn’t been back home for two to three years.
Teachers worked closely with students to help support them in any learning or assessments they might miss, Yule said.
Denise Johnson, the principal of Hutt Valley High School, said the school had had some students and event staff travelling overseas – five planned on finishing term a week earlier for travel.
‘‘In all cases, they are reconnecting with family after three years of the pandemic, and I am fully supportive of it,’’ she said. ‘‘These have been such challenging times for families split across continents.’’
Low attendance couldn’t be blamed on just one thing. Parents working more and not being present to get their children to school was a contributing factor, as was teenagers themselves increasingly working, Johnson said.
‘‘The demands from bosses are that teenagers work crazy hours or risk getting fired. It has gotten worse recently with the challenge employers are having finding staff.’’
Increased resourcing for schools and community-based attendance services would help a lot, she said.