Parents 'part of' truancy problem

PARENTS must share the blame for poor attendance in remote Aboriginal schools.

PARENTS must share the blame for poor attendance in remote Aboriginal schools, the South Australian government has said, as it moves to deflect criticism of its performance in the area.

Premier Jay Weatherill said yesterday that the state government still had work to do to improve school attendance rates on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, after The Australian revealed two schools had been without students during the first school term.

"Of course I'm concerned about school attendance, but school attendance is a complex phenomena." he said.

"We haven't completed our work, there is ongoing work in relation to ensuring that school attendance is lifted.

"It is not uncommon for there to be a shift of people from one community to another, but we resource these schools in a way which tries to shift the resources to where the students are."

The Australian revealed yesterday that both Watarru and Kenmore Park schools had no students at the beginning of the term, despite having a combined 11 staff and each receiving about $1 million in annual funding.

The state government said yesterday that teaching staff from Watarru had been transferred to other communities because no children had attended class for the first six weeks of term.

But the Education Department was unable to provide details of whether the school's non-teaching staff remained in Watarru.

It has refused to release attendance data for other APY Land schools for this year, saying it will be verified over the next six months.

The most recently published data reveals that one in three children is not attending school on a daily basis, with two of the APY's largest communities in Ernabella and Amata recording attendance of just 58 per cent.

Aboriginal student services executive director David Rathman defended the department's performance yesterday.

"There is a reciprocity issue here," he told ABC radio.

"There's the issue of responsibility on the part of communities and families as well.

"It's not the responsibility of educators to take the full brunt of the needs of children, even though our educators on the lands do an extremely difficult job."

He was unable to provide student numbers for Kenmore Park, but said students had returned to class.

Opposition Aboriginal Affairs spokesman Duncan McFetridge said he wanted the state government to consider a Cape York-style Family Responsibilities Commission to improve school attendance.