The Education Minister and National's education spokeswoman have traded blows in Parliament over the release of school attendance data.
National's education spokeswoman Erica Stanford grilled Education Minister Jan Tinetti on whether she had delayed the release of the data to coincide with Labour's attendance officers announcement yesterday, which would see the introduction of 82 new attendance — truancy — officers in schools.
Stanford asked Tinetti on what date the Ministry of Education had provided her with the term three 2022 attendance data and why it was not released publicly "until just yesterday".
Tinetti said her office received it on December 14, with additional data provided on December 20.
"The Ministry of Education are responsible for the release of the attendance data.
"Releasing the data right before Christmas when schools had finished for the year would have been cynical.
"The ministry released the data at the start of the year to help raise awareness of the issue so that parents, students and schools are reminded that we need to continue to have a razor-sharp focus on turning the attendance around in 2023."
Stanford asked why Tinetti claimed the release of the data was not up to her but to the ministry "when comments from a senior analyst from the Ministry of Education... state that the release of the data depends on the minister's approval".
1News has viewed the comments, which came from an email Stanford tabled to Parliament.
The email, from May 2022, shows a senior official stating the release of the data "usually depends on the minister's approval".
"We have a rough aim... but there may be delays sometimes."
In the House, Tinetti said the ministry was responsible for the data and she had "no say over that".
"The ministry aims to get the data out as quickly as possible, but it is important that the data is both accurate and the contextual information is provided.
She said that process was sometimes delayed for publication.
"For example... last year, term three data for 2021 was released in April 2022. So if we are to follow [Stanford's] logic, we are actually early with the term three data this year."
Chris Hipkins today faced his first question time as PM. (Source: 1News)
She said there was also no requirement to release the data.
Stanford said on December 7 last year, at a select committee, a Ministry of Education senior official said the data was expected "any day now and would be released before Christmas".
She asked who the public was to believe, the official or the Education Minister, "who has claimed, in recent media interviews, that another eight weeks of 'analysis' was required, which happened to perfectly coincide with a policy announcement yesterday".
Tinetti said discussing the data release was "a waste of time".
"The Government is focused on solutions. We have solutions about putting children and young people at the centre of the response to the attendance issues."
She said discussing when the data was released would not "make the difference".
Stanford asked Tinetti to "categorically state, here in the House today, that she played no part in the delay of the release of the information when it was made available to her on the 20th of December".
Tinetti said she already had — it was a decision for the Ministry of Education.
Stanford said "we'll see" and asked how releasing the data in December would be cynical "but sitting on the data and not releasing it for another two months and releasing it the same day as her policy announcement is not cynical".
Tinetti — a former primary school principal — said Stanford had not worked in schools but advised her they finished for the year by December 20.
"Who will make the big difference to attendance? It's our whānau and it's our schools. Putting it out when they can have the focus on it and not be concerned about the fact — when they've had a really tough year — around what they're doing the following year, that won't make the difference. I know this from experience. Please listen."
The data itself showed regular attendance in term three, 2022, was up 6.1% on term two. Irregular absence was up 2.7% and chronic absence was up 1%.
In the period, 46.0% of students met the criteria for regular attendance at schools and kura.
Tinetti was first elected in 2017 and was made Education Minister on February 1, succeeding Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in the role.
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