Enforcement of compulsory school attendance (2011-2018)

Under Section 22 of the Education Act 1990, parents have a legal duty to ensure their school-aged children attend school. Where absenteeism is persistent and an attendance improvement plan has been unsuccessful, and the parents have not meaningfully engaged with the plan, the matter is referred for consideration of legal action.

Data Notes:

• Each school has a discipline policy which sets out clear expectations for regular student attendance and consequences of truancy.

• Where an attendance improvement plan has been unsuccessful in resolving the matter, and the parents have not meaningfully engaged with the plan, the matter is referred for consideration of legal action.

• Proceedings are typically withdrawn when attendance has improved sufficiently to justify withdrawal, or because it appeared likely that a defence could be established (e.g. illness or disobedience).

• Matters not commenced occurred for a range of reasons including not being able to serve court papers, living arrangements for child changing, Family and Community Services removing children, improvement in attendance, and the student moving out of the jurisdiction.

• These figures were prepared from administrative systems that were developed to internally track the progress of cases rather than to report externally. There are no statistical quality assurance measures applied to these figures, and there may be anomalies or errors due to the significant number of users who access the system. The data is correct to the best of the department’s knowledge and understanding.

• Refer to the individual publications for further information and policy context.

Data Source:

• Legal Services Directorate. NSW Department of Education.