SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

Half of all Aboriginal students attended school for at least 87.5% of the school year. In other words, the median number of days absent was 26 days. In 1993, the median number of days absent for non-Aboriginal students was 8 days. Only 18% of Aboriginal students had less than 8 days of absence from school.

STUDENTS AGED 4 TO 17 YEARS – DISTRIBUTION OF DAYS ABSENT IN SCHOOL YEAR, ABORIGINAL AND NON-ABORIGINAL STUDENTS

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The proportion of students who missed 26 or more days of school in the school year tended to decline from Year 1 to Year 6 then increase to Year 10 where the proportion who have missed more than 26 days peaked at 70%

PROPORTION OF ABORIGINAL STUDENTS AGED 4 to 17 YEARS ABSENT FROM SCHOOL FOR 26 DAYS OR MORE, BY YEAR AT SCHOOL

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Factors associated with school attendance

Factors found to be associated with attendance at school by Aboriginal students included the following:

  • Students were almost 30% less likely to have lower than median attendance if their carers had been educated beyond Year 10 to Years 11 or 12.
  • Students assessed by their teachers to be at high risk of clinically significant emotional or behavioural difficulties were almost twice as likely to have at least 26 days of absence from school
  • Students in families where 7 to 14 life stress events had occurred in the past 12 months were almost twice as likely to be absent for 26 days or more than students from families where 2 or less life stress events had occurred
  • Students were more likely to miss 26 days or more of school if their main language spoken in the playground was Aboriginal English or an Aboriginal language
  • Students who had trouble getting enough sleep were over one and a half times more likely to be absent for at least 26 days
  • Students who had never attended daycare were one and a half times as likely to be absent from school for 26 days or more during the school year
  • Students whose primary carer had needed to see the school principal about a problem the student was having at school were almost twice as likely to be absent for 26 days or more
  • Students in schools with a high proportion of Aboriginal students, schools that had Aboriginal and Islander Education Officers (AIEOs), and Government schools in the highest quartile of Socioeconomic Index for schools (see SEI in Glossary) were more likely to have poor school attendance.

PROPORTION OF STUDENTS AGED 4 TO 17 YEARS (a) AT AVERAGE OR ABOVE AVERAGE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE, BY NUMBER OF DAYS ABSENT FROM SCHOOL IN A SCHOOL YEAR, ABORIGINAL AND NON-ABORIGINAL STUDENTS

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(a) Only students aged 4 to 16 years were included in the 1993 WA CHS, which was the source of the data for non-Aboriginal students.

Last updated 5 September 2007