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Download AudioTe Tai Tokerau Principals Association president Pat Newman says calls to fine the parents of persistent truants is political pandering.
ACT leader and Associate Education Minister David Seymour is proposng the fines as well as addition funding for school-based truancy officers.
Mr Newman says fines have been tried before and they don’t work – and what does work are family-centered approaches because most whanau want their kids in school.
The Horahora School principal says it’s a policy designed to appeal to people who see truancy as a poor and brown problem
“It’s that sort of brown bashing behind it and there’s no doubt about it. The reality of the situation is that is not what has happened. We know that punishing people to get kids to school doesn’t work. The court systems are already chocker, so where are we going to put these in?” Mr Newman says.
He’ll be interested to see what happens to the policy when the politicians realise one of the big groups responsible for non-attendance are affluent families who take their children travelling.
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