David Heyne spoke about a tiered intervention model that is based on the importance of creating positive contexts in schools, researching the reasons why students are absent and using data to take effective measures for each case. The co-founder of the International School Attendance Network was the main presenter of "Creating Opportunity: International School Attendance Seminar" of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, which was held at the University of San Sebastian.
David Heyne has over 30 years of experience working to address truancy. He is a co-founder of the International School Attendance Network (INSA) and on April 17 he visited Chile to share his intervention model that has been successful in reversing this global problem from which our country is not exempt.
Heyne was the main presenter of "Creating Opportunity: International School Attendance Seminar" of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad that was held at the Universidad San Sebastián (Bellavista campus).
The specialist model is based on 3 levels of intervention. The first includes the formation of an attendance team, the creation of a positive climate in schools and the strengthening of relationships with students' families. At the next level, the team should investigate the reasons for emerging absences and respond with personalized interventions. Should attendance problems continue, the team moves on to the third level, where the use of data to make decisions is critical, including collaboration with community partners to address the non-school factors that contribute to absenteeism.
"Today in Chile we have enormous challenges in terms of attendance, especially in preschool education, where figures show that there was an average of 69.5% attendance from March to November 2023, which represents missing more than two months of classes," explained Marcela Marzolo, executive director of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad. He then added that "this is why David's perspective is fundamental and we want to make available to decision-makers and management and educational teams a model that is effective and that has yielded results."
In addition to the presentation of the international expert, the event included a panel discussion in which the executive secretary of the Educational Reactivation Plan of the Ministry of Education, Joaquín Walker, participated, along with representatives of organizations such as the Corporation for Children of Santiago, Fundación Cristo Vive, Luft Salud and had the view of one of the parents who traveled to NASA for the contest "Make them Take Off".
