You can’t fix school refusal with ‘tough love’ – but these steps might help

‘Research shows an authoritarian approach can have negative impacts on children who are refusing school,’ writes Christine Grové and Alexandra Marinucci. Photograph: JohnnyGreig/Getty Images/iStockphoto

School attendance levels in Australia are a massive issue, according to the education minister, Jason Clare. As he told reporters last week, he hopes to talk to state colleagues about the issue at a meeting later this month.

There’s evidence that school attendance rates have been dropping now for 10 years, and we see it amongst boys and girls, we see it in every year from kindergarten right through to the end of school.