Mrs BRAHAM - 2007-10-16
I had another report of a mother who will not send her children to school. A visit by the local AIEW at the local school has failed to achieve a result, that is, get her to send her kids to school. The federal minister has released details of his intention, if he is still in government, to quarantine a percentage of Centrelink payments tied to school enrolment and attendance from 1 July 2008. Your Education Act, sections 21 and 22, states clearly the responsibility of parents regarding compulsory education and compulsory attendance, and the penalties if they fail to send their children to school.
Why does your department not enforce this requirement on parents who are not complying? Does this mean you prefer the federal minister’s approach of quarantining Centrelink payments to get parents to send their children to school? What is your report card in addressing non-attendance?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Braitling for her question. As an ex-principal, as I continue to mention in this House, she maintains an active interest in education. The issue of attendance is right there at the top of my priorities as minister for Education. As I keep saying, if kids are not going to school, they are not going to get the outcomes that we want. There is a complex set of issues around this attendance question. There is no simple solution because if there was, it would have been implemented many years ago. What we are looking at is a complex set of issues across the Northern Territory.
Mrs Braham: You have a complex answer, no doubt.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker, I am trying to answer the member’s question. Children who do not attend school fail to do so for many reasons. Some may be traumatised, others may be teased or bullied, others come from families that are totally dysfunctional and fail to get their children up and ready for school. This government has said that we need a carrot-and-stick approach towards getting our children to school and it is the number one issue.
On the question of the Commonwealth government withholding of family welfare payment, we have said that we will work with the Commonwealth government to implement this program across the Northern Territory. We have to do it in a way that brings people with us. The view from the Chief Minister and me as Education minister, and this side of the House, is that this is all part of the approach. We need carrots on the other side of the policy agenda as well because it is much better for kids to go to school because families want to send their children to school and children want to go to school.
One of the things we are doing is developing the capacity of our school-based resources to engage with parents in the exact example that the member for Braitling just gave about parents who do not send their children to school. We have 31 Home Liaison Officers and 44 Aboriginal Islander Education Workers who are currently working in communities and with families to lift attendance.
We are getting results and I will give you a couple of them. I have the latest newsletter from Clyde Fenton Primary School in Katherine. This is a school with a high indigenous cohort that is typical of schools in our regions across the Territory. Through the principal in school newsletter:
Last Wednesday of Term 3, 91% of students attended school every day. That is a huge result for Clyde Fenton Primary School.
As an example, I was talking to my colleague the member for Macdonnell about the carrot-and-stick approach. She is active in one of her communities, Docker River, and donates five push bikes a year. The school allocates those bikes to kids who not only attend regularly, but who achieve in their studies. There are other schools in the Territory which have variations on that theme, trying to support a culture of getting up out of bed and to school.
The short answer to the member for Braitling is: we need to have a carrot-and-stick approach. We will work with the Commonwealth government on welfare sanctions they are looking to impose. As minister for Education, I would rather see the entire community embracing wanting to send their children to school, and children who want to go to school rather than punitive sanctions that potentially push kids who do not want to be in school to go. It is a carrot-and-stick approach, and I thank all the schools across the Territory that are lifting their game in this regard.
Why does your department not enforce this requirement on parents who are not complying? Does this mean you prefer the federal minister’s approach of quarantining Centrelink payments to get parents to send their children to school? What is your report card in addressing non-attendance?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Braitling for her question. As an ex-principal, as I continue to mention in this House, she maintains an active interest in education. The issue of attendance is right there at the top of my priorities as minister for Education. As I keep saying, if kids are not going to school, they are not going to get the outcomes that we want. There is a complex set of issues around this attendance question. There is no simple solution because if there was, it would have been implemented many years ago. What we are looking at is a complex set of issues across the Northern Territory.
Mrs Braham: You have a complex answer, no doubt.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker, I am trying to answer the member’s question. Children who do not attend school fail to do so for many reasons. Some may be traumatised, others may be teased or bullied, others come from families that are totally dysfunctional and fail to get their children up and ready for school. This government has said that we need a carrot-and-stick approach towards getting our children to school and it is the number one issue.
On the question of the Commonwealth government withholding of family welfare payment, we have said that we will work with the Commonwealth government to implement this program across the Northern Territory. We have to do it in a way that brings people with us. The view from the Chief Minister and me as Education minister, and this side of the House, is that this is all part of the approach. We need carrots on the other side of the policy agenda as well because it is much better for kids to go to school because families want to send their children to school and children want to go to school.
One of the things we are doing is developing the capacity of our school-based resources to engage with parents in the exact example that the member for Braitling just gave about parents who do not send their children to school. We have 31 Home Liaison Officers and 44 Aboriginal Islander Education Workers who are currently working in communities and with families to lift attendance.
We are getting results and I will give you a couple of them. I have the latest newsletter from Clyde Fenton Primary School in Katherine. This is a school with a high indigenous cohort that is typical of schools in our regions across the Territory. Through the principal in school newsletter:
- Ten weeks of school left for 2007. Can your child achieve 100% attendance certificate? Yes, they can, but they need your help to get out of bed, on the bus and get breakfast at school.
Last Wednesday of Term 3, 91% of students attended school every day. That is a huge result for Clyde Fenton Primary School.
As an example, I was talking to my colleague the member for Macdonnell about the carrot-and-stick approach. She is active in one of her communities, Docker River, and donates five push bikes a year. The school allocates those bikes to kids who not only attend regularly, but who achieve in their studies. There are other schools in the Territory which have variations on that theme, trying to support a culture of getting up out of bed and to school.
The short answer to the member for Braitling is: we need to have a carrot-and-stick approach. We will work with the Commonwealth government on welfare sanctions they are looking to impose. As minister for Education, I would rather see the entire community embracing wanting to send their children to school, and children who want to go to school rather than punitive sanctions that potentially push kids who do not want to be in school to go. It is a carrot-and-stick approach, and I thank all the schools across the Territory that are lifting their game in this regard.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016