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More now staying at school

NEW Ministry of Education reports on student attendance show improvements in many key areas, although they show there is more work to be done.
"It is vital that students stay at school as long as possible to boost their learning and achievement. The Labour-led government is committed to working with schools through a range of initiatives to ensure students stay at school," Education Minister, Steve Maharey said on releasing the reports.
The 'Report on Student Engagement 2006' highlights that secondary suspensions have fallen by 8 per cent between 2005 and 2006, and by 20 per cent since 2000. Fewer than 1 per cent of students were suspended last year, and 91 per cent of these were one off cases.
The report also shows that half of New Zealand schools did not use stand-downs last year, although that rate has risen slightly. Fewer than 3 per cent of the total student population was involved, and nearly 80 per cent were one off cases, showing that students learnt from the experience and didn't repeat it.
The full report of the 'Attendance, Absence and Truancy in New Zealand schools in 2006' has also been published. A summary was released in December.
"The findings of these reports point out that some schools are having successes, but that more work needs to be implemented across all schools to keep students engaged, learning and achieving at school," Mr Maharey said.
To help schools achieve this, the Minister has released a new set of 'Attendance Guidelines' to help schools manage and improve student attendance:

To support schools to further crackdown on levels of truancy, suspensions and stand-downs
Suggest schools set a target to reduce truancy by 20 per cent over the next five years
Recommend schools consider setting their own attendance improvement targets.
These guidelines build on Ministry initiatives already improving student attendance including:
Student Engagement Initiative (SEI) - develops programmes to target specific engagement issues in schools with high truancy, suspension or early leaving exemptions. This reduced the suspension rate of Maori in those schools from 6.4 per cent to 4 per cent since it started in 2001.
Interim Response Fund - a $4.5 million programme to give schools more support to deal with disruptive students. For example, it funds a teacher aide or specialist services to help deal with a challenging student.
District Truancy Service - funding for the truancy service has been increased to $17 million over four years to target areas of higher truancy.
Early Leaving Exemptions - Ministry of Education is applying greater scrutiny to applications for exemptions to reduce students leaving early.

"The Labour-led government has put a lot of work into this area, and there is more work currently going on. Over the coming months, I intend to announce further measures to keep students enrolled and fully engaged in school.
"This is not just an issue for the government or for schools. We all need to work together to send a strong message to young people that staying in school and learning is essential to their future," Mr Maharey said.