Teachers in N.B. tasked with improving attendance, told to use diplomacy over discipline

As classes across New Brunswick pause for the holidays, it’s not yet clear which schools are making a dent in chronic absenteeism — a stubborn post-pandemic trend that mostly afflicts the high school cohort, especially in the Anglophone West school district.

For the past three years, half of the students between grades nine and 12 in Anglophone West have been reported as chronically absent, according to data released to CBC News by the Department of Education.

That means they've missed more than 10 per cent of class time. That's equivalent to 18 out of 180 instructional days.

“Teachers are still very concerned about students missing so much time in the classroom and what impact that has on learning,” said Heidi Ryder, president of the New Brunswick Teachers' Association.

"When students aren't there, you can't build relationships, you can't do the teaching and learning that really needs to happen to move students forward. So it's a huge concern."

In a written message to families in November, Anglophone West said it aims to reduce chronic absenteeism by five per cent by the end of this school year by promoting welcoming, supportive school environments.

Education Minister Claire Johnson said the province-wide goal is to reduce chronic absenteeism to 26 per cent by 2028.

To meet those targets, teachers in the Anglophone sector are being directed to a 70-page report released in June, titled Chronic Absenteeism: A Multi-Tiered System of Supports.

It outlines interventions of increasing intensity depending on the severity of the absenteeism.

According to Peter Smith, a former Kennebecasis Valley High principal and now the project lead, teachers are expected to call the student's home at the first sign of a few missed classes.

That's when the issue is flagged to the family and the teacher asks if the student has any issues that need to be addressed.

When 10 days are missed, the call comes from the principal or vice-principal and a school attendance support team may consider mild interventions, such as mentoring.

If absenteeism persists, clinicians in mental health and addictions may get involved and expectations for the student may be reduced, temporarily.

“We don’t want you to skip the whole day if you’re feeling anxious,” said Smith.  “If you can only get to school for 9:00 instead of 8:30 because you are going through some anxiety, then get to school for 9:00."

Smith said an increasing number of students are missing school due to serious anxiety disorders. For them, detentions will not be effective, he said.

"Suspending the kids, threatening legal action, giving the kid detentions, none of that is going to build the partnership and the trust that are need to work through the real barriers," he said.

School as early warning system

Jess Whitley, an inclusive education professor at the University of Ottawa, said schools play a critical role when it comes to identifying children who are struggling with poverty, learning disabilities and a wide range of social and economic challenges.

Ideally, she said schools could match these students with the right resources, including food, housing, counselling and other therapies as required.

"If we can't get them to school, we can't put eyes on them," she said.

She said emotionally-based school avoidance has become an epidemic far beyond Canada.

New Brunswick teachers are being advised that some anxiety is normal but school avoidance, or school refusal, may develop when a student can't self-regulate problematic anxiety ahead of tests, class presentations, social interactions or other causes of distress.

"We've always had kids reluctant and anxious to attend school but there's things that have happened contextually where that's been allowed to grow and morph," said Whitley. "I mean, anxiety is through the roof in general, among parents and kids."

Posting absenteeism rates by individual school could be a helpful tool, she said, to spot patterns early and provide feedback on what interventions are making a difference.

The Department of Education says it will post data at the school level on a public dashboard by the end of March.

Once the dashboard is live, aggregate chronic absenteeism data will be updated three times per school year.

“If we’re actually collecting and using data in a regular way, maybe we can actually get a sense of what is working,” said Whitley.