9. Question No. 9—EducationMARJA LUBECK (Labour) to the Associate Minister of EducationQuestion No. 9—Education9. MARJA LUBECK (Labour) to the Associate Minister of Education: What recent announcements has the Government made about supporting regular attendance and engagement in education?Hon JAN TINETTI (Associate Minister of Education): On Sunday the Minister of Education the Hon Chris Hipkins and I made a pre-Budget announcement of $88 million of targeted funding for attendance and engagement programmes to ensure our tamariki are in education. Over the past two years we have been investing in evidence-based attendance initiatives that are led by schools and communities who know their students best. This latest package is providing further funding for these initiatives which prior to 2017 had been under-invested in. Attendance rates need to improve across all ages deciles and regions. They have been declining since 2015 and COVID-19 has added more challenges. Budget 2022 provides system-level and targeted investment to make the education system a place where learners want to be and where they can get the targeted support they need ensuring there are routes back into learning for those learners who are disengaged.Marja Lubeck: What approach is the Government taking to support students to attend school regularly?Hon JAN TINETTI: When changes were made to the attendance service in 2013 the work of engaging students in education was taken away from schools and communities who know their students best. The Government is redesigning the attendance service to bring that provision closer to schools. That work is happening now and has been rolled out in some regions already. We are also taking a prevention approach to students who are starting to show signs of poor attendance—for example the Positive Behaviour for Learning suite is a proven programme which has been in place since 2011 that fosters safe inclusive environments particularly for ākonga and whānau Māori. Now the refresh programme is based on the latest research. It empowers schools with practical solutions to—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yeah I think the Minister's definitely addressed the question.Erica Stanford: Can she confirm that 8000 children were not enrolled in any school in March 2022 twice as many as at the start of 2019 and if so why has she waited so long to do anything about it while we face a truancy crisis that has exploded under this Government?Hon JAN TINETTI: I'd really like to thank the member for that question because it is important that they understand why we take an evidence-based approach and plan this so carefully because it can go terribly wrong if you don't. In 2013 when the previous National Government took a non - evidence-based approach and developed an attendance system that took it away from schools we saw attendance falling dramatically. That is not the approach that this Government will take.Marja Lubeck: What does this funding mean for schools students and families?Hon JAN TINETTI: This funding is targeted for our most vulnerable but will be of benefit to all schools. For students with learning support needs we will have increased resourcing with the Incredible Years programme to support caregivers whānau and school and early childhood educators to improve communication skills and emotional regulation. Targeted funding has been carved out for our Māori ākonga and Pacific students at risk of disengaging and schools will be better supported to identify and support their students to attend school in engaging and learning.