Report shows students miss about a month of school per year as SA post-Covid attendance recovery falters

It doesn’t matter if it’s the private or the public system, new figures reveal South Australian schools are all struggling to keep up in one important area.

Almost one in two South Australian students missed at least a week of school per term in 2023 as the attendance rate has not bounced back from Covid disruptions, a new report has revealed.

The latest Australian Government productivity commission report showed that the portion of SA public school students in Years 1 to 10 who had attendance rates greater than or equal to 90 per cent was 56.3 per cent.

As a school year lasts 40 weeks, students with a 90 per cent or below attendance rate will miss at least a month of schooling per year.

While the 2023 figure represents an almost 10 per cent increase on 2022 figures (46.7 per cent), it is far from pre-Covid levels of attendance (70.1 per cent) in 2019.

SA students at government schools also remained below the national average of 58.6 per cent and only exceeded rates in Queensland (56.1 per cent), Tasmania (50.6 per cent) and the Northern Territory (41.6 per cent).

The national average pre-Covid was 71.1 per cent.

Education Minister Blair Boyer said the state was making progress with attendance. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Morgan Sette

Education Minister Blair Boyer said the state was making “important progress in reducing non-attendance”.

“I’m pleased to see an improvement in attendance levels in our schools, however, there’s more to do,” Mr Boyer said.

“Attendance levels in South Australia and nationally remain below pre-Covid levels and we need to tackle the causes of truancy.”

Mr Boyer said the effects of regularly missing school are “damaging” for students with a “significant impact” on students’ learning and wellbeing.

He said the “threat of prosecution” had encouraged some families to get chronically absent children back in the classroom.

Opposition education spokesman John Gardner said a focus on attendance is “critical” for a government seeking to improve school outcomes.

“The government hasn’t been able to return to pre-Covid norms as quickly as we might like,” Mr Gardner said.

Private schools also showed issues with returning to attendance levels seen in before the pandemic, when during certain periods, students were discouraged from attending class.

Non-government school attendance was higher than their public counterparts at 65.7 per cent in 2023 but still did not reach the levels seen in 2019 (77.3 per cent).

Private school students in SA were also below the national average for attendance of 67.3 per cent and was only above rates in Tasmania (60.6 per cent), the ACT (64.1) and the Northern Territory (51.1).

Independent Schools Association SA chief executive Anne Dunstan said student non-attendance or avoidance of school is “a highly complex matter” and that it “may occur for a range of reasons”.

“Helping students transition back to full-time attendance is an issue that independent schools take very seriously,” Ms Dunstan said.

“School staff work with their families to provide a range of adjustments to support children and young people to re-engage in daily school life.”

Executive director of Catholic Education SA Dr Neil McGoran said their schools “work closely with students and families to maximise attendance”.