Page 4269 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 22 September 2010
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my many school visits in my capacity as shadow minister for education. I see this in the teachers within my family, and it is a source of great inspiration to me.
It is surprising, or perhaps not, that here in Canberra the truancy measures put in place by Principal Thompson received such an activist reaction from this government. After all, such measures have been in place in parts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Equally, it has been reported that the Westpoint shopping centre in Blacktown maintained a practice of ushering students out of their establishment when they should be in school. In Canberra I can recall in the late 1990s seeing a sign while walking past a games arcade in Woden Plaza refusing entry to students during school hours. At the time, I remember thinking to myself that this was a civic thing to do.
Truth is, these measures will not eradicate truancy. However, it is a positive step in getting schools, parents and local communities to work together in order to constructively address the truancy problem. Simply put, it is a step in the right direction. You can be cynical and criticise such initiatives or try to do something constructive in addressing truancy. To quote the shadow attorney-general, Mrs Dunne, the recent accusations of human rights violations just “throw common sense out the window and highlight the unwieldy approach towards administering this legislation. The ACT government and its ministers should be supporting their school principals, not allowing another arm of government to tear them down”.
Section 35 of the ACT Education Act provides that the principal of a government school must set up procedures to encourage students to attend school regularly and to help parents encourage their children to attend school regularly.
Lanyon high school’s attendance policy, published as early as 2007, abides by the provisions of the Education Act and qualifies that where possible it should be negotiated with the school’s community. The government found no issue with Lanyon high’s school-based attendance policies when they were published in 2007 and there should not be any issues with them now.
This is in line with section 9.1 of the Department of Education and Training’s policy on attendance at government schools. As such, Principal Thompson was merely exercising care for his students by engaging with the school community in order to ensure that his students have a disincentive to leave the school precinct when they should be in class.
In the 2009 school board annual report it was reported that between year 7 and year 10 there was a decrease in attendance rates from 91 per cent to 85 per cent. This is a significant decline. Even if this is a general trend experienced by all schools in the ACT, there should not be an acceptable casualty rate when it comes to education.
It is reassuring that Lanyon high has an SMS and email facility to inform parents and carers of possible non-attendance and truancy. In a 2005 government report it was proposed that such an SMS facility would increase attendance by 30 per cent. Still, this is only one of the many effective options, and Principal Thompson’s efforts to work with businesses at the Lanyon shops is a positive initiative. After all, the minister’s powerful currents of education reform, with his virtual this and virtual that,
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