8 Steps in the Decision-Making Process

Nearly nine in 10 report they are supported to do their work income statement effectively (88 percent). This chapter describes what we know about the effectiveness of Attendance Services, and how they impact the outcomes of the students they support. Escalation pathways in Aotearoa New Zealand are less clear and not as consistently applied as other countries. Parents and Whānau can be fined, and schools or Attendance Services can request a Family Group Conference, but these are not regularly used in practice. Fines are regularly issued, and councils can apply for an Education Supervision or School Attendance Order, before prosecuting parents as a last resort. Three in five school leaders (60 percent) report that there are not enough Attendance Services in their area.

Six Thinking Hats

• There are four different categories of attendance, depending on how many half-days a student attends in a school term.
• Attendance Services work with students who are chronically absent from school or not enrolled to return them to school.
• Schools must record student attendance every day, and student attendance is reported in ‘half days’.
• Increase understanding of the importance of attendance, providing focused messages for parents and whānau of students most at risk of chronic absence.
• To create workplaces where smart decisions are the norm, not the exception, leaders must consider their teams’ strengths.
• If you want to further your business knowledge and be more effective in your role, it’s critical to become a strong decision-maker.
• For example, some allocate the case, contact the school and the family all within three days.

This helped the evaluation team identify examples of good practice and to understand what the key contributing factors were. Similarly, the team was able to identify examples of issues and challenges that decision making framework Attendance Services and schools were facing and understand the main contributing factors. They counted a student as not enrolled if they had stopped attending school entirely. Most of the students will have been chronically absent when absence rates were still low. The characteristics of chronically absent students 10 years ago may be different to those now. Secondary schools, and those in low socio-economic communities, have higher rates of chronic absence.

Decisions, decisions, decisions: 5 decision-making models

Wanting to leave school, physical health issues, finding it hard to get up in the morning, and mental health issues, are key drivers. There are a range of risk factors that make it more likely a student will be chronically absent. The most predictive factors are previous poor attendance, offending, and being in social or emergency housing. We used Ministry of Education administrative data to understand how big the problem of chronic absence is, and who the students are who miss more than 30 percent of school. In this chapter we set out how much students are attending school, and how chronic absence varies for different students and schools. For students referred to the Attendance Service, the service will contact their parents and whānau, and work with them and the student to address barriers to attendance and get them back to school.

Overcoming Challenges in Decision-Making Frameworks

At age 25, almost half of young adults who were chronically absent are receiving a benefit (46 percent), compared to one in five of the total population (20 percent). From age 17 to 26, chronically absent young adults earn more income from benefits compared to the total population. Leaving school with fewer qualifications means young adults who were chronically absent at school are less likely to be employed. At age 25, just under three in five young adults who have been chronically absent from school have a wage or salary income (58 percent), https://www.bookstime.com/ compared to more than two-thirds of the total population (69 percent). Students know that school is important for their future, but they do not always see the potential impact of their chronic absence.

• Finding students who are not attending is inefficient and time consuming and causes significant delays in engaging with them.
• This was particularly so if they couldn’t contact a family or access a property to investigate the causes of absence.
• By incorporating input from various stakeholders, collaborative decision-making frameworks aim to leverage the collective intelligence of a group.
• When identifying the decision to be made, it is important to involve key stakeholders who will be impacted by the outcome.
• Before addressing a situation, leaders need to recognize which context governs it—and tailor their actions accordingly.

Students, and parents and whānau know students are expected to attend school and that they receive frequent reminders from their school about the importance of attendance. Eighty-six percent of parents with chronically absent children recognise that attending school is important. The rate of chronic absence is lower in schools where parents and whānau understand the implications of non-attendance (7 percent compared to 9 percent). Sixty-seven percent of Attendance Service staff plan how they work with students and parents and whānau using what they know about students and what works all of the time. Eighty-seven percent of school leaders do the same – in schools, support is planned and managed to ensure students can maintain attendance all (39 percent), or most (47 percent) of the time. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into various decision frameworks that can significantly enhance your decision-making skills.

• Patterns of absence too often go unnoticed or are not investigated, and these patterns become normalised.
• You’re probably picking up on the fact that the decision-making process is fairly comprehensive.
• However, there is a mismatch between what schools and Attendance Services identify, and what students and parents see as the barriers.
• Most Attendance Services we visited relied on their experience with young people instead of an understanding of the evidence base.
• This involves identifying the problem or opportunity and understanding the desired outcomes.