Kerre Woodham: Will fining parents of absent kids help?

You might have heard ACT leader David Seymour on the Breakfast show this morning. He says there will almost certainly be prosecutions against parents of absent students this year as the Government intensifies its crackdown on school truancy. And it's not even truancy, in my mind truancy are kids doing a bunk, wagging, taking a day off. What this is, is parental neglect.

Guest Post: Truancy is all too familiar

Cooper Reed posts on NZ Intiative

All my friends sometimes skip school. For my school ‘think tank’ project, I decided to explore why they do so, and to propose some ideas for reducing the behaviour.

My friends are not alone. In 2023, only 46% of students nationally regularly attended school. That means that more than half missed at least one day per fortnight without a good reason. Earlier this month, the Education Review Office reported that 10% of New Zealand’s students are chronically absent.