Ele Ludemann: Family failures

The number of children leaving school with no qualifications is the highest in a decade:

Sixteen percent of last year’s school-leavers had no qualifications, the highest figure in a decade.

It equates to about 10,600 teenagers, and is 0.4 of a percentage point worse than the previous year and about six percentage points higher than the 10-11 percent recorded in the years prior to the start of the pandemic.

The percentage of school leavers with no NCEA certificate has been rising since 2020, a trend teachers blamed on the after-effects of Covid-19 lockdowns combined with high employment prompting more young people to leave school earlier than they otherwise would. . .

Failure to gain any qualification will have many causes and among them are family failures.

It’s not only schools and teachers to blame when children get to high school with poor literacy and numeracy.

A child’s home environment is crucial for their development and too many children start school without the pre-learning skills they need; too many have very poor vocabularies; and too many lack social skills including toilet training.

They have been failed by their families as pre-schoolers and that failure continues at school.

Their problems would have been evident after a very few years at primary school. Responsible, and able, parents would have known that and done something about it, but not all parents are responsible and able.

Socioeconomic barriers had a big impact – 28 percent of leavers from schools facing the most barriers had no NCEA certificate compared with 4 percent of leavers from schools facing the fewest barriers. . .

This indicates that at least some of the family failures are intergenerational and complex. Many families face poverty, lack of access to resources, mental health issues, and their own struggles with literacy and numeracy.

Children grow up with parents who may not be literate or numerate and aren’t willing, or able, to help their children with their education. They leave school with no qualifications, are unable to get well paid work, or any work at all. They have children and are unable, or unwilling to help them . . . and so the cycle of failure goes on.

Failing children is failing the future and the failure for many starts with their families.

There is no easy solution to that but more specialised staffing at schools for children who need extra help would compensate for some of what is lacking in their homes.

It’s not up to schools to teach parents, but addressing family failures necessitates helping them so they can help themselves and their children too.

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.