The gap between school attendance by Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in NSW continues to worsen, despite a government commitment to improve outcomes.
Just 42.7 per cent of NSW Aboriginal students in years one to 10, went to school on most days during semester one last year, an auditor-general's report found.
More than two thirds of non-Indigenous students - or 70.3 per cent- attended most of their classes, in the same time period.
"Aboriginal student attendance is significantly below non-Aboriginal students and there is no specific strategy to address this gap," Auditor-General Margaret Crawford said in her report, published on Tuesday.
The NSW Education Department's Aboriginal education policy aims to have First Nation students either equalling or exceeding the outcomes of their white peers, while reducing the impacts of disadvantage.
More attention was required to lift primary school attendance rates, Ms Crawford said.
She acknowledged newer programs helping Indigenous students working towards their Higher School Certificate.
The report found attendance problems are widespread, with 775 of 2200 NSW schools having an average attendance rate below 90 per cent in 2021.
The report looked at semester one data from 2018, 2019 and 2021, finding attendance fell across the board for students in years one to 10 - with 2020 data excluded due to COVID-19 disruptions.
* 2018: 74 per cent attended at least 90 per cent of the time
* 2019: 73.1 per cent attended at least 90 per cent of the time
* 2021: 67.9 per cent attended at least 90 per cent of the time
Preliminary data suggests attendance for semester 1, this year will fall further due to COVID-19 and weather impacts.
Failing to go to school most days, or 90 per cent of the time, can put a student's education at risk, Ms Crawford said.
The Department of Education's Strategic Plan 2018-2022 set a goal of increasing the proportion of students attending school at least 90 per cent of the time.
Labor's education spokeswoman Prue Car says the government failed to address falling attendance rates when the issue first arose in 2019 - before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The auditor-general puts it plainly when stating that student attendance levels are so low they are putting educational outcomes at risk," she said.
"Whether it's falling attendance, teacher shortages or declining student outcomes, it's clear the current Perrottet Government has neither the plans nor the ability to fix these problems which threaten the future of education in NSW."
The report made a number of recommendations:
* Set new attendance targets
* Evaluate and update attendance programs
* Publish attendance levels for schools in annual reports and improve attendance data
* Review programs supporting Aboriginal students
* Review approaches enforcing school attendance
