Mental health linked to attendance, Government should refine its focus

Catching chronically absent students who are falling “through the gaps” is a responsibility best suited for staff with specialist counselling skills and insight, says the NZ Association of Counsellors.

New Education Review Office (ERO) research shows that the number of absent students has doubled in the last decade, thanks in part to COVID-19 and worsening levels of anxiety and mental distress.

Ruth Shinoda, Head of ERO’s Education Evaluation Centre, says the number of students who are chronically absent from school is at a “crisis point and is damaging students’ futures”.

Counselling in both primary and secondary schools has shown to be an answer to arresting attendance records, achievement levels and poor mental health, says NZAC President Sarah Maindonald.

ERO’s report into the Counselling in Schools initiative proved this, so too did the 2020 research into the effectiveness of counselling, co-funded by the Association and the Ministry of Education.

“We have known for some time that students’ mental health is strongly linked to their engagement, achievement, and school attendance. And we know improving students’ mental health is key to improving attendance, engagement, and learning,” Maindonald says.

“Ringfencing money for a greater ratio of school counsellors to students would go a long way to addressing the key contributors of truancy and help schools reengage our youth.

“When more school counsellors are employed with greater resources to support the growing number of students crying out for help, effective interventions can be implemented for those who have disengaged with schooling.

“Loss of work, transitional housing, poverty, and families under stress are all causes of the social distress and mental health symptomatology that is reflected in our youth.

“Counselling provides a safe place for students to offload these mental stressors and provide the bridge between young people and their families, teachers, the community, and even their peers.

“We need to build a bridge back to schools where students can feel safe and a sense of belonging without the stigma of the multiple complex factors that can keep them from accessing education.”