Cathy Chalmers: Lead Principal of the Manurewa Attendance Service says more focus is needed on absent children

Education Ministry data shows three and a half thousand kids have been missing from the education system for more than a year since 2022. 

Lead Principal of the Manurewa Attendance Service Cathy Chalmers told Heather du Plessis-Allan having to find these kids is part of the problem. 

She says a multi-agency approach is needed, as there are normally other issues that contribute to disenrollment or low attendance. 

The Government says it's putting information-sharing agreements in place, between agencies like Kainga Ora and the Health Ministry 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, this is a crazy number. Get a load of this.
Last year, about eleven hundred students didn't go to school
at all for more than a year. They were not
enrolled in any school for more than a year. And
it's not the little ones that we're talking about. Two
thirds of these kids our age between twelve and fourteen
years old. Kathy Charmers is the lead principle of the
Manyereba Attendance Service and is with us morning, Kathy. What

(00:22):
on earth is going on that that number's gone up
by five times in just ten years.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, there are a lot of students. I think some
of that is a backlog of students that have been
non enrolled from COVID times that particularly at the adolescent age. Yeah,
there's a large number of disengaged students and getting them
back to school is a really complex problem.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Why is it complex? Is it because you can't find them?

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Not being able to find them as part of it.
The other thing is that you kind of need multi
a multi agency approach. Normally there are other issues that
contribute to the reasons why they're not going to school,
and sometimes it's condoned, you know. Sometimes they've got to
an age where the parents find it just as had

(01:14):
to get them to go to school. The students are
making their own choices about what they're doing, and so
it's it's it's as simple as just picking them up
in a car and re enrolling them.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
No, I mean, what are the what are the options
if you if you turn up at the house and
they're sitting, they're playing on the PlayStation and mums like whatever,
I don't care, or does care, but the young one
doesn't care. What can you do?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, that's that's the whole problem.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
I mean, I'm not allowed to put them up and
put them in the car. Are you?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Attendance officers are able to if they if they are
an appointed attendance office, so yes they are. The legislation
allows for that. But you you're not going to force
an issue like that. That's that's that's combetive, that's that's
not going to re engage a student with education. You've

(02:02):
sort of got to get them behind them and have
a wrap around approach. You know that they're being combative
is not going to sustain a child at school. They'll
just take off, So you know that's probably not the
recommended approach.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Well, what's the approach? Then because none of the approaches
are working well.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
I wouldn't say that they're not working. I think what
you've got is a large backlog that that are very
very difficult hey to find those students, because the longer
they're out of school, the lot the harder it is
to find them. The ones that had not been out
of school for such a long time, they're the ones
that you were likely to have more success. The longer

(02:45):
a child's out of school, the more they become engaged in,
you know, other activities that they would prefer to do.
I think I think that's why it needs a multi
agency response. You know, that's where you know, we get
support for them and schools, we get them into the
right school. I think alternative education pathways, you know, I

(03:06):
need to perhaps be more offerings that you know that's
very limited for the twelve to thirteen year old age
lev old that you know alternative education only starts at
year nine. You know, these kids need a different approach.
The stock standard straight into a classroom that thirty kids
isn't probably going to work as well.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Well. Clearly no, nothing normal is working there. Kathy, thank
you mate. That's Kathy Charmers, lead principle of the manyetto
attendance service tell you, actually, I've got to tell you before,
before too long, I met a family that doesn't school
the kids, and I reckon part of it. I reckon
Our biggest problem in New Zealand right now with education

(03:49):
is we don't know how lucky we are. There are
people around the world who cannot send their kids to school,
and they would do anything to get the kids in education.
We take it completely for granted and don't think it's
worth it. For more from The Casking Breakfast, listen live
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