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Speaker 1: And a real change of page right now from what

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Speaker 1: we've been talking about this morning, because new data, well,

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Speaker 1: it's been revealed that more than one in three parents

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Speaker 1: have dealt with school refusal in the past twelve months. Now,

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Speaker 1: the School Refusal Senate Inquiry recommended commissioning nationally tackling this

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Speaker 1: because there was well there was too little data available

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Speaker 1: on the subjects. So what we know is that the

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Speaker 1: Green senator and former teacher Penny Almond Pain commissioned a

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Speaker 1: national poll of around one thousand parents which has been

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Speaker 1: released nationally to the ABC News and when the results

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Speaker 1: were waited across public and private schools, it showed that

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Speaker 1: thirty nine percent of parents agreed or strongly agreed that

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Speaker 1: their child had experienced school refusal in the past year. Now,

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Speaker 1: joining me in the studio to shed a bit more

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Speaker 1: light on the situation in the Northern Territory is a

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Speaker 1: local mum Jasin.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, thanks for having me on and.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Now, Jacinta,

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Speaker 1: can you tell tell me a little bit more about

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Speaker 1: your experience with school refusal?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, So this year my son, who was twelve

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Speaker 3: at the time, started middle school, which is a huge

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Speaker 3: change for students regardless of where they are or where

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Speaker 3: they live. But he found it really difficult and very challenging,

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Speaker 3: and I guess that huge change really impacted him. And

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Speaker 3: then the final straw was it wasn't bullying, but he

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Speaker 3: did get hit and it wasn't targeted. It was just

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Speaker 3: unfortunate he was in the classroom at that time and

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Speaker 3: the school dealt with it very well. But unfortunately after that,

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Speaker 3: which was in turn one, he just woke up one

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Speaker 3: morning and said, I'm not going to school. And as

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Speaker 3: a parent, I tried, I guess the tough love and

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Speaker 3: old school thinking of yeah, you need to go to school,

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Speaker 3: this is not an option. But what I found was

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Speaker 3: that wasn't helping and he refused from about weeks six

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Speaker 3: of term one to go to school. And with the

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Speaker 3: help of the school the well being coordinator for year seven,

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Speaker 3: we did a bit of I guess it's similar to

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Speaker 3: exposure therapy. We just slowly brought him back to school,

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Speaker 3: very slowly, starting off with just saying hello to the

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Speaker 3: well being coordinated in the car park. He changed classes

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Speaker 3: and yeah, by the end of term two he actually

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Speaker 3: went back to mainstream class.

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Speaker 2: Jeez, that must have been hard.

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Speaker 1: Like I'm just thinking as a parent, you know, with

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Speaker 1: kids around the same age, I can't imagine how difficult

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Speaker 1: it must have been.

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Speaker 2: Then, because you know, you feel for.

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Speaker 1: Your son and you're thinking, you know, he's had a

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Speaker 1: rough drot and it can be so hard when you

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Speaker 1: go through those changes in your life. But then also thinking, well,

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Speaker 1: I still want you to get an education. I still

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Speaker 1: want you to be able to you know, to participate

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Speaker 1: in the fun aspects of school as well. So it

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Speaker 1: must have been really difficult for you guys as a

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Speaker 1: family to help him along and to get through it.

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Speaker 3: Oh exactly, Yes, I think I lacked an understanding of

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Speaker 3: what he was going through. And again the old school,

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Speaker 3: old school way of thinking of yeah, education is forefront

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Speaker 3: and he just has to go to school. But yeah,

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Speaker 3: it was extremely difficult. I work, So I was finding

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Speaker 3: it hard to actually function at work, and I'm very

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Speaker 3: fortunate that my employer is flexible and i was able

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Speaker 3: to reduce my hours in the morning and yeah and

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Speaker 3: work through, yeah, work through.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, do you reckon?

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Speaker 1: There's enough support for you know, four kids that are

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Speaker 1: that are going through this kind of thing in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory and I mean right around Australia. But does

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Speaker 1: they need to be more support not only for the

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Speaker 1: kids but also for parents.

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Speaker 3: I feel there. Yeah, they definitely does need more support.

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Speaker 3: We need more support in the Northern Territory, but yeah,

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Speaker 3: around Australia in general. Yeah, definitely.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know, I mean, I know that that COGSO,

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Speaker 1: the Council of Government Schools, they do quite a bit

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Speaker 1: in terms of, you know, in terms of trying to

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Speaker 1: make sure that that families are supported in different ways,

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Speaker 1: but also bringing to the forour some of the issues

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Speaker 1: that that different families are sort of dealing with and

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Speaker 1: students are dealing with.

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Speaker 2: And I'm told that you're involved.

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Speaker 1: In putting forward a motion to tackle this at cogso's

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Speaker 1: recent annual conference. Can you tell me a bit more

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Speaker 1: about that motion and what it could potentially see?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Sure, So the motion, So I'm on the council

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Speaker 3: at my son's school as a parent member, and yeah,

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Speaker 3: we put forward in motion requesting anti COGSO to work

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Speaker 3: with the Department of Education to establish distinct codes in

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Speaker 3: the mandated student administration system and this would be to

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Speaker 3: effectively record school refusal. So what that means is currently

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Speaker 3: that data is not recorded, so when a child is absent,

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Speaker 3: you don't have that option to put in my child's

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Speaker 3: absent because he's refusing to go to school. It's either

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Speaker 3: sick or just away and the parent knows. So yeah,

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Speaker 3: we'd like the NT to take the lead on that

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Speaker 3: and record this data to understand the prevalance and causes

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Speaker 3: of school refusal in the NT I.

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Speaker 1: Reckon that's a I do think that's a really good

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Speaker 1: idea because I think that there's a big difference between

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Speaker 1: you know, a child being being sick and not going

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Speaker 1: to school or being absent for whatever reason. But when

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Speaker 1: you've got a situation where kids are refusing to go,

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Speaker 1: we do need to understand why that is because we

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Speaker 1: want to try and get them back, and we want

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Speaker 1: to try to make it easier for them to be there,

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Speaker 1: not in terms of you know, getting out of work

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Speaker 1: or anything like that, but making sure that it is

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Speaker 1: an environment that they're comfortable and that they're happy in.

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Speaker 3: Yes, And I guess at the end of the day,

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Speaker 3: when a child refuses to go to school, it's also

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Speaker 3: referred to as school can't. It means that there are

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Speaker 3: barriers sometimes it's mental health issues like anxiety, bullying issues.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, it's not that they don't want to that

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Speaker 3: there are other underlying issues and I think we need

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Speaker 3: to understand that more. And part of the motion is

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Speaker 3: to educate around school refuse. Also, yeah, get more professional development.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, do you reckon it's happening more often than what

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Speaker 1: people realize, Like, do you think that you know that

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Speaker 1: we have more school refuse in the territory then what

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Speaker 1: people think.

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Speaker 3: I think so, yes, So I feel it's not really

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Speaker 3: spoken about myself. I feel quite ashamed that my son

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Speaker 3: refuses to go to school, But I think the more

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Speaker 3: we talk about it, the more we'll remove that stigma

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Speaker 3: and understand that this is a wider problem than I

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Speaker 3: think we actually realize.

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Speaker 1: Don't feel ashamed, don't at all.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: In fact, I think you're really strong coming out and

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Speaker 1: talking about it, because it's really important for other parents

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Speaker 1: to understand that they're not alone when things like this happen,

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Speaker 1: and that we do need to make sure that kids

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Speaker 1: have those supports to be able to reintegrate into school

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Speaker 1: if they're going through a difficult time. And it does

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Speaker 1: sound as though you know your young fella had gone

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Speaker 1: through a difficult time.

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Speaker 2: It's and it's tough.

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Speaker 1: You know, as parents, we're just doing our best, aren't we.

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Speaker 1: We're all trying so hard to make sure that our

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Speaker 1: kids are going to school and that we're you know,

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Speaker 1: we're doing the best that we can.

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Speaker 2: And sometimes that's a bloody hard juggle.

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Speaker 3: Yes, unfortunately there's no manuals.

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Speaker 1: I wish there was some days. I really appreciate you

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Speaker 1: talking to me this morning. I think that it gives

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Speaker 1: probably a lot of parents a bit of perspective, and

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Speaker 1: I reckon that I'm going to have other people message

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Speaker 1: through and say, do you know what, Katie.

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Speaker 2: You know, I've got a situation where.

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Speaker 1: My child has gone through school refusal as well, and

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Speaker 1: in a lot of cases, it sounds like these factors

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Speaker 1: that are out of your control that are contributing to

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Speaker 1: that as well for our children, which I think makes

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Speaker 1: it even tougher.

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Speaker 3: Yes, most definitely. And can I just quickly add that

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Speaker 3: going to Headspace really helped my son. They're fantastic, great

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Speaker 3: counselors and a very supportive environment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you very much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate it, Katie.

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Speaker 2: Thank you