Productivity Commission data lays bare Tasmanian public school attendance rates

The attendance rates in Tasmania’s public high schools has been described as “extremely concerning” as new data lays bare the level of absences recorded in the government education sector.

Tasmania’s government high school attendance rates have been described as “extremely concerning”. Picture: Getty Images

Tasmanian state schools have the second-worst attendance rates in the nation as student absences continue to be significantly higher across the country than they were pre-Covid, new data released by the Productivity Commission has shown.

The Report on Government Services figures, released on Tuesday, reveal that Tasmanian government schools recorded an overall 79.6 per cent attendance rate for Year 7-10 students in 2024, compared to the national average of 83.4 per cent.

Since 2015, the rate in Tasmania’s government high schools has dropped by 8.1 per cent.

Only the Northern Territory (68.1 per cent) is performing worse in this statistic.

Australian Education Union Tasmanian branch president David Genford.

Meanwhile, 59.4 per cent of high school students in the government education sector attended school less than 90 per cent of the time last year, up almost 25 per cent on a decade ago.

However, it’s understood this indicator is more sensitive to small changes in absence rates.

Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations operations manager Jessica Bennett said the statistics for Tasmania should be treated with a degree of caution due to nuances in the ways different jurisdictions record attendance.

She noted that the remoteness of some families and the fact that some children didn’t feel safe at school were potential reasons for poor attendance.

A parliamentary inquiry into discrimination and bullying in Tasmanian schools is currently under way and will hold its next hearing on Friday.

Jessica Bennett, TASSO operations manager. Picture: Supplied

“Schools have so much ability to understand their parent population and understand the dynamics that are affecting their school and we just need to work together and listen to one another and actually understand what’s going on,” Ms Bennett said.

In non-government schools, 42.3 per cent of high school students met the 90 per cent attendance threshold in 2024, compared to 25.1 per cent in 2015.

Australian Education Union Tasmania president David Genford said students in Tasmania and the NT faced the highest levels of disadvantage in the country and the state government needed to provide more support in public schools, such as boosting social worker and psychologist numbers.

“We need to hear from experts as to why attendance is dropping across the board and what the state and federal governments need to do to turn things around,” he said.

Labor education spokeswoman Sarah Lovell said the attendance figures were “extremely concerning” because they showed that students in Tasmanian government schools were “becoming less engaged with education”.

Labor education spokeswoman Sarah Lovell.

A Department for Education, Children and Young People spokeswoman said an action plan for attendance in government schools had been developed and changes in attendance rates were “part of a national trend”.

“Attendance rates for Tasmanian government schools when compared by remoteness status (Major Cities, Inner Regional, Outer Regional, Remote and Very Remote) show Tasmania’s government school attendance rates for Inner and Outer Regional are comparable to other states and territories’ rates,” she said.

Originally published as Productivity Commission data lays bare Tasmanian public school attendance rates