As this Government rams through $19billion in tax cuts and tax breaks for the richest amongst us, we are taking food out of the mouths of hungry children to put into the pockets of the wealthy…
…David Seymour is pretending to look at the evidence when the truth is that he doesn’t believe the State should be feeding children who parents should be responsible for.
He wants to ignore the vast amount of academic research that shows feeding hungry children at school benefits them and the anecdotal evidence from the coal face…
Niki Penny: Socioeconomic factors are a proven cause of absenteeism
Another government, another hot take on how to tackle school absenteeism. Since being given the responsibility for school attendance as associate education minister, David Seymour is championing the use of fines and prosecution as the most effective way.
Christopher Luxon believes telling parents to “wake up and talk to your kids and get them to school” is what has been missing.
Both methods exemplify a trend towards not only misunderstanding the complex factors behind school absenteeism, but to applying punitive measures that make things worse.
Of course, it’s easier – and politically convenient – to lay blame at the door of irresponsible parenting.
This one-dimensional view doesn’t require any understanding of the social and economic factors which affect a child’s access (or lack of access) to education.
In reality, the factors are almost always human. They’re almost always economic. They can almost always be fixed by addressing a glaring lack of resources.
When I started at Te Kōmanawa Rowley School, the attendance rate was 40 per cent and the school was at risk of closing.
‘Meet the Teacher’ nights had turnouts of three whānau. It now has an 83 percent attendance rate and ‘Meet the Teacher’ nights have been replaced by community hangiattended by 400 people.
How was this turned around? Not by blaming anyone, but by identifying the barriers getting kids to school.
Te Kōmanwa Rowley School is a low-decile school in southwest Christchurch surrounded by higher decile schools. As the city gets redeveloped, communities get displaced and transport options change and become more limited.
Each day a school van collects 20-30 children who have limited transport options. Teachers will collect children on their commute if whānau ask them to.
Adequate transport of course requires funding, and it’s no secret that schools are desperately underfunded.
Lack of uniform was another significant barrier. Some families couldn’t afford uniforms. For many children and whānau, a lack of uniform feels like a lack of dignity.
Now, thanks to uniform sponsorship at the school, all students are given a new uniform upon starting. Pride was a barrier to attending school, and that has been restored.
Thirdly, access to the Healthy School Lunches programme was crucial in helping kids stay in school – especially in hard economic times. We often send leftovers home to whānau.
At the time of writing this, kids have breakfast, fruit and lunch at Te Kōmanawa Rowley. This also incentivises kids to eat healthy options which was previously unaffordable to some. There is a proven correlation between food security and learning.
The problem with fines is that they will push many families further into poverty. This could actually increase school absenteeism and exacerbate gaps between families and schools that sorely need closing.
Te Kōmanawa Rowley and the local community took a partnership approach to closing the gap between families and schools, having an open dialogue so we could understand the barriers to attending.
In turn, this created a connection between school and whānau which had previously been lacking. The ‘it takes a village…’ approach to children’s educational wellbeing, school, whānau and communities meant we achieved what we all wanted; to get children into school.
School staff worked with the community and whānau to rebuild trust, and this partnership initiative has broken boundaries.
As an educator, it affirms to me that success comes from working alongside, not against, our whānau.
Fines and prosecutions may appear to be concrete and decisive political responses, but they are not evidence of a policy that values children.
The policy devalues the connection between home and school. Widening the gap between school and family will create a mistrust of government agencies, including schools.
Tackling absenteeism needs a meaningful and sustainable approach at two levels.
First, at a local level. Attendance at Te Kōmanawa Rowley turned around because schools, family, and communities worked together to get kids to where they need to be; the classroom.
Initiatives need to share the community’s language and culture, show respect to whānau, and empower schools, family and communities to work together to find localised solutions their schools need.
Second, at government level. Socioeconomic factors are a proven cause of absenteeism, and inflicting fiscal punishment makes no sense when many of these same whānau are already struggling.
Whānau can have the best intentions in the world for their children’s education, but that’s not enough in the face of economic barriers.
Long-term approaches need empathy, problem-solving, and, most importantly, a commitment from the Government to remove economic hardships facing families and fund schools properly to tackle the real drivers of truancy.
…we need to be expanding food in schools, not slashing it.
We should have free Breakfast and Lunches in all schools.
Yes there has been wastage from schools that have 3rd party agents making food off site and then dropping them off rather than making the kia on school grounds with parents helping serving plus school gardens.
Those 3rd parties are not partnering up with schools, they are doing a pity run to turn coin.
Universal provision of good healthy food made on schools grounds akin to what they do in almost every other developed country we compare ourselves to is the solution.
David wants to fine the parents of truant kids when free school breakfasts and lunches can be the solution to that.
All David wants to do is use the stick instead of any carrot.
Kids can’t eat sticks David!
We should all be ashamed of our country that we are taking money out of hungry kids mouths to fund a tax cut for wealthy landlords!
You wouldn’t let someone who despise dogs run a puppy store and you wouldn’t let a guy who hates feeding hungry children decide free school lunches.
This is what NZ is now, we hated Jacinda for saving 20 000 lives and this is what we have mutated into.
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Using public funds to prop up private schools is a fucking disgrace!
In the meantime gutting the public sector and fining parents for children’s non attendance is another example of a nazi state. The ACT party continue to prove they are an elitist party.
Most of the right believe in the mantra – if you can’t afford kids you shouldn’t have them. Forgetting of course that many people can afford kids when they have them, but through misfortune find they can’t afford them any more. What a surprise – they seem to have a blind spot here.
But what on earth is the point of having a society if one of the aims of it isn’t to look after those who are less fortunate? We might as well just have a collection of individuals – you know like those libertarian groups that have been so successful at running political entities/S.
We can’t afford tax cuts, but we are having them, all because tricola wants to save face as she said she would resign. Why doesn’t she just do what her boss is doing blame the coalition.
The bottom line is a country tipping over because of demographics.
NO children, nor incentives, nor pro policies, nor adequate support through a childhood, then NO adults , NO workforce, less taxes , NO pension etc
For years the UK has had dinner for kids at school .There is a profession of dinner ladies working in school .If rich pricks want to waste money sending their kids to private school ,where they are spoon fed to pass exams to make results look good ,then let them pay for it .Their rich prick attitude is fucking our local college because they send their kids to private schools because having kids is a pain in the arse so lets make them someone elses problem .In the mean time tax payers are proping up these same schools to the tune of hundreds of millions on top of the 30k per year school fees .Another hand out to the top 10%
More to the point, if you aren’t prepared to try to be good parents, don’t have children.
We’ve had plenty of examples of wealthy parents’ children going off the rails largely because absentee parents have allowed them too much money and too much freedom.
We’ve had stories of parents taking teenagers to Whangamata prior to New Year and literally leaving them to be ‘supervised’ by the owners or managers of motels who don’t even know the kids. They have adequate accommodation for New Year but who is really looking out for them?
We have had stories of parties where underaged children have been served alcohol quite freely because daddy hired a barman for the evening and it suddenly becomes the poor barman’s job to supervise several dozen increasingly unruly teenagers. Host parents absent.
That family also responsible for graffiti defacing public places all over our city. A 19 year old, a young man, but still very childish it seems. Didn’t have much good fathering, I guess.
We’ve had an MP who was found to be a violent, bully-boy at his boarding school and went on to be similarly poorly behaved at his university digs. Ok, he’s apologized but that’s small comfort to his victims. Why couldn’t he behave properly to begin with?
Numerous other occasions on which the children of the wealthy have proved themselves badly behaved, poorly brought up, lacking good sense and having no morals. etc.
Therefore, the argument that you shouldn’t have children unless you can afford them, is rubbish.
There’s no reason why public education should have to subsidize private schools.
If you can’t afford the fees to fully fund your private schools, don’t go to them. There! Problem solved Mr. Seymour.
You cannot demonstrate superior educational or personal outcomes from private schools because many very well behaved and successful citizens, didn’t go to them.
However, they had parents who cared and while they may have been poor, made the effort to be good parents. They were in attendance and available, always.
Your very well reasoned post will be lost on Bob’s soundbites.
Atlas Dave is well trained in his pathologic Randian doctrine. Act would be long gone but for the Natzos welfare in Epsom electorate, where they handed it to Actoids on a plate. Dave needs to be confronted when ever he appears in public, particularly when stuffing his face at official functions or restaurants.
So what us the difference between your bully boy attitude to Seymour than his so called attitude. There seems to be a number of commentators on this feed who cannot except there is another way of looking at a situation.
For 6 years thecountry was run by Labour and most agree we are in a mess so it is only sensible to try another approach
And yet in just 5 months most agree National have crippled the country taking us back decades
Many on this site can’t see past their bias or think for themselves because they are brainwashed by their right wing CEO and uneducated ministers.
Well, we’ll see if the ‘mess’ you speak of, is better or worse, after 6 months of this lot. Then we could try another approach.
Were we in a mess under Labour or was it mainly propaganda distributed by Luxon and Co. which made you think so?
Willis’ financial plan STILL hasn’t received any acceptance by international financial entities which advise on such things. Robertson’s had been approved.
Many of us said ages ago, Labour might not be much chop but National wouldn’t be any better.
Yes Trevor, the world outside NZ is perfect & only NZ is in a mess? I don’t know what planet you live on but there are problems worldwide & while I believe that Labour did not achieve all the things it should have we are actually in a better position today than we would have been if National was in government.
Did you know before covid the total immersion Maori kura and the Catholic girls’ schools In Auckland were achieving higher NCEA results than many of the private schools so what does that say.
I think you’re doing Davros a disservice there mate – Davros is a genius, albeit an evil one, who made his race a real galactic force. Seymour is a sock puppet – albeit an evil one. NZ will not become more powerful under his corrupt leadership – it will sink further behind, only producing neoliberal fairytales instead of results.
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