Student disengagement is becoming one of the biggest challenges facing Australian schools. National attendance data shows only 62.1% of students attended at least 90% of school days in 2025, while more than 40% of students in Years 1–10 are missing at least one day of school each fortnight.
Independent Schools Australia says attendance rates have continued to slide since the pandemic, with school refusal, chronic absenteeism and “school can’t” now affecting classrooms across the country.
For Dr Chris Sarra, founder and CEO of The Stronger Smarter Together Institute, the answer starts with relationships, and a willingness from schools to make every student feel respected, valued and culturally safe.
During his time as Principal of Cherbourg State School in Queensland, Dr Sarra helped to lift school attendance from 62% to 94%.
The power of ‘relational sovereignty’
Dr Chris Sarra, Founder and CEO, Stronger Smarter Institute, says young people are far more likely to engage in learning when they feel genuinely seen, valued and understood by the adults around them — particularly students from Indigenous and culturally diverse backgrounds, who too often feel disconnected from mainstream school culture and the systems shaping it.
“Relational Sovereignty in a classroom simply means that all children who live in communities with cultural differences to that of what we call the mainstream, should feel confident and proud enough to bring those differences to school and have them met by others who can honourably embrace them.
“This is true for all First Nations children, and indeed all children from migrant backgrounds. That sense of cultural identity is not some type of ‘backpack’ that they feel they need to leave at the school gate and pick up again on their way home.”
Dr Sarra said this means schools should be treating belonging as a daily practice, not a slogan.
“We must have schools and classrooms in which all children can see themselves, and assert themselves with confidence and respect.”
When asked how Principals might use relational sovereignty to re-engage students who have ‘checked out’ of the school system, Dr Sarra said that from the outset, contemplating this challenge requires leadership courage and honesty.
“If students have ‘checked out’ of the school system then essentially they have rejected our efforts to engage them and the learning opportunities we provide,” he said. “It is shameful to think that some in our profession might actually be happy when often complex students disengage, and in short, we are glad to see them gone.”
Of even greater shame, said Dr Sarra, is remembering that educators are paid to be in a teacher-student relationship.
“They are not. If they disengage, then we are the ones who have failed; not them,” he said.
“It would be easy to blame the complex home contexts of particular students, but if we have learned anything from the 21 years of the Stronger Smarter journey, it is that even the most complex children from the most complex home environment will respond positively to a teacher who is prepared to earn their salary by embracing such children with high expectations and a kind heart.”