An education report has highlighted how family breakdowns are one of the reasons behind the current struggles in our schooling system.
The report is from Koi Tu, a research centre and an independent, non-partisan think tank at University of Auckland. The centre is led by Sir Peter Gluckman.
Increasing violence, more absenteeism and falling grades are just some of the issues facing New Zealand schools currently.
The report stated that compared to 60 years ago children in New Zealand are much more likely to live with solo parents and blended families.
It says recent research exploring the experiences of 612 children from birth to age 15 found that only 40 percent of participating children lived with both parents in the same house.
Almost 44 percent were in either sole parent households or some form of multiple-residence care.
57 percent of participants had experienced at least one change in care arrangements during their lives, and only 20 percent of participants had lived their whole lives in households containing only nuclear family members.
In many instances, with that, comes moving house. The report showed the median number of locations lived in by participants was six, which approximates to a shift in residence every two and a half years from birth to age 15.
The authors state that changing family dynamics and the level of change many children experience in their home lives over their childhoods have substantial implications for schools and schooling.
The report also highlighted that the behaviour of children is impacting teacher wellbeing and their desire to stay in teaching. Half of teachers indicated that student behaviour has a large impact on their intention to stay in the profession. Currently there is a teacher shortage in New Zealand.
Family First Staff Writers
