With her son missing weeks of school at a time, Georgina Ker followed the "tough love" prescription she was told would remedy her son's "behaviour problem".New data reveals more than one-in-three parents dealt with school refusal in the past 12 monthsParents say addressing the "stressors" behind the refusal, rather than "tough love", has helped
She said she still clearly remembers the hot summer day, when the weather hit 37 degrees Celsius, that "tough love" failed. It is defined as different to regular truancy because it is long term and students do not hide their actions or engage in anti-social behaviour. Greens senator and former teacher Penny Allman-Payne commissioned a national poll of 1,000 parents which has been released exclusively to ABC News.When the results were weighted across public and private schools, 39 per cent of parents agreed or strongly agreed that their child had experienced school refusal in the past year.
The government is due to provide a response to the senate inquiry's 14 recommendations — which included extra mental health support and earlier interventions — by this Friday. "I call on the Albanese government to accept all of the recommendations in the report, particularly the provision of more subsidised mental health care visits," Senator Henderson said.Tiffany Westphal, a board member and volunteer at School Can't, said the poll numbers were "staggering".