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• Total Indigenous preschool enrolment numbers increased slightly between 2002and 2005, from 8729 to 9019 (from 24.2 per cent to 25.1 per cent of allIndigenous 3–5 year olds) (tables 6A.1.1, 6A.1.3).6.2 School attendance (year 1 to year 3)Box 6.2.1Key message• In 2006, the school participation rate for Indigenous five to eight year old children(96.9 per cent) was similar to that for non-Indigenous children (93.8 per cent)(figure 6.2.1, table 6A.2.1).In Australia, school attendance is compulsory for children between 6 and 15 yearsof age (extending to 16 years of age in SA and from 5 to 16 in Tasmania). TheWestern Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey has shown a direct relationshipbetween the number of days absent from school and academic performance(Zubrick et al. 2006).Studies have found that Australia’s Indigenous children have lower schoolenrolment rates and lower school attendance rates than non-Indigenous children(UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre 2004; Schwab and Sutherland 2004; Taylor2004). Further, Indigenous school children are less likely to have parental support,for example, help with homework, compared with non-Indigenous children(UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre 2004). This indicator examines schoolparticipation for years 1–3.Comparable attendance data for school students in years 1–3 were unavailable forthis Report. Instead, data in this section present participation rates, which are basedon enrolments for five to eight year olds. These rates may identify whether there arechildren in the community who are not enrolled at school, however, they do notreflect whether a child actually attends school on a daily basis. Zubrick et al. (2006)presented comprehensive data and discussion on school attendance in WA. Thissurvey found that the levels of school attendance of Aboriginal students were wellbelow the levels of non-Aboriginal students.Recently, the ‘mutual obligation’ approach has been a prominent policy tool toincrease attendance rates at school. For example the ‘no school, no pool’ strategyhas been used successfully in many areas throughout Australia to encourageattendance at school. During 2005, the Australian Government trialled a scheme inHall’s Creek in WA that docked welfare payments for parents, if their children wereregularly absent from school. The trial was stopped due to concerns about whether6.6 OVERCOMINGINDIGENOUSDISADVANTAGE 2007