November 16, 2022
Make school an adventure says Principal Davis
Associate Education Minister and former Kaitaia Intermediate principal Kelvin Davis says the solution to poor attendance is making school the best adventure in town.
An Education Review Office study has found attendance levels falling even before Covid, and schools are a struggling to get them back regularly post-pandemic, especially in low decile schools.
Mr Davis recommends a mix of carrot and stick.
“Schools have to do what they can do to make school interesting. Parents also have to be the enforcers and make sure their kids get there so it’s not something education alalonga can deal with. It’s something that education and whanau and communities need to deal with but in the first instance make school the best adventure ion town and kids will want to be there,” he says.
Mr Davis says when he was a principal one way he boosted attendance was to hire someone to ring parents when kids weren’t there.