A call to uphold children’s rights in decision-making

In recent months a number of announcements have been made by the government that relate to children’s education. These include regulations on the use of cell phones at school, an attendance action plan and a review of Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy School Lunches programme. Despite the significant impact of these proposed and actual changes on children’s lives, to date, children have been largely invisible in the decision-making processes. In fact, the way these decisions have been made, raises questions about the extent to which children’s rights are being realised in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Rights of Children

Aotearoa New Zealand’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Children (CRC) in 1993 amounted to a promise to every child that their rights would be upheld in all circumstances.

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Banning cell phones in schools - A step forward, or a return to the past?

In a society with democratic and egalitarian values, one assumes we would want an equitable education system where every child has an equal opportunity to thrive and has access to the tools they need to succeed. In a perfect world, this would be easy to implement and maintain. However, in a less than perfect world, there isn’t a level playing field for our tamariki, and many are starting each school day well behind the start line. The Government’s ‘Phones away for the day’ cell phone regulations needing to be in place in every state school and kura no later than the 29th April 2024 (the start of term two), may result in an even more inequitable education experience for ākonga who are already faced with daily barriers to their learning.

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Students non-attendance at school: A complex and multi-factorial issue

The Government recently announced their plan to tackle school truancy. This plan will include new public health guidance for students and parents in relation to illness and school attendance along with weekly truancy reporting.

Few would argue the importance of addressing the issue of school non-attendance, however the announcement by Associate Minister Seymour is both disappointing and a missed opportunity. This is because it failed to recognise those factors that have been shown to contribute to student non-attendance at school and to implement a plan of action to address those factors.

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We are excited to announce that Dr Nicola Leete has been awarded the Dr Ann Shorten Doctoral Award. This Award is given once annually by the Australia and New Zealand Education Law Association (ANZELA) for the best thesis in education law research. The Award supports Dr Leete to present her research at the 2024 ANZELA conference in Hobart.

If you’d like to engage with Dr Leete’s work, check out:

Leete, N. (2022-23). Exploring Principals' Experiences of Legal Learning in Relation to Student Discipline. International Journal of Law & Education, 25(2), 24-42. http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IntJlLawEdu/2023/2.html 

Leete, N. (2023). The rights of disabled ākonga: Bridging the gap between law and practice. Kairaranga, 24(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.54322/kairaranga.v24i1.351