THE IMPORTANCE OF SHOWING UP

The following information is adapted from a recently published study and makes an interesting read on how frequent lateness to school impacts on our children’s wellbeing and their learning.

Missing just one day of school has negative consequences for a student’s academic achievement, the first major study linking poor attendance to lower NAPLAN results has found.

School attendance patterns established as early as year 1 can predict how often a student will show up to class right through high school, according to the research.

The average public school student in NSW misses almost three weeks of school each year. Australia is alarmingly slack when it comes to school attendance, with high school students skipping more days of school than almost any other developed country.

An analysis of the attendance records and NAPLAN results of more than 400,000 students from Western Australia found any absence from school leads to a decline in academic performance.

The study dispels the belief there is a safe level of absence students can get away with before their grades will suffer.

“We were able to show that actually every day counts and days that you’re missing in year 3 and year 5, we can detect that all the way through to year 9,” the report's co-author, Stephen Zubrick, from the University of Western Australia, said.

“A 10-day period of unauthorised absence in a year is sufficient to drop a child about a band in the NAPLAN testing.”

Year 3 numeracy achievement in 2012 declined by 1.6 NAPLAN points for every unauthorised day of absence in the first two. terms of that year.

The most startling finding, Professor Zubrick said, was that students arrive in year 1 “with their school attendance careers. already in their pockets”.

“For most children, year 1 sets the pattern for what school attendance will look like in the future,” Professor Zubrick said.

“You’re learning more than reading and writing. You’re learning to show up."

Sally Op't Hoog

Teaching and Learning Leader: Learning Diversity Leader