Data released by the Department of Education today shows that school non-attendance rates are still too high, proving the need for change as prescribed in the Education Bill.
The Education Bill, introduced to the Tasmanian Parliament last week, demonstrates the Hodgman Liberal Government is committed to every Tasmanian child’s future and recognises how important it is they attend school every day they are able to.
The Education Bill 2016 proposes several measures to help resolve issues associated with students not attending school, such as a compulsory conciliation conference run by independent conciliators.
Research shows periods of absence from school have a detrimental effect on a student’s future achievement, with every day missed by a child linked with a lower attainment outcome.
The Government wants all students to receive the same opportunities for face-to-face learning, to keep them connected with their peers and the school environment.
Along with existing school-based strategies, and with the support of school communities, parents and guardians, we are confident that we can continue to achieve improvements and better learning outcomes for Tasmania’s young people.
For more detail see the fact sheet, Supporting students who are not attending school
The RTI is available at: http://www.education.tas.gov.au/Students/schools-colleges/policies/Pages/Personal-Information-Protection-and-Your-Right-to-Information.aspx
Note: From 2014 all states and territories agreed that disciplinary sanctions, such as suspensions, were to be included as absences. Prior to 2014 Tasmania did not include disciplinary sanctions such as suspension from school as absences, and therefore suspensions are not included in the pre-2014 data that has been released. It is therefore not possible to compare data pre-2014, with 2014 and 2015 data.
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