Attendance still in the headlines – The New Epidemic

“Absenteeism has become endemic in our schools. The search for solutions is keeping headteachers awake at night but, despite concerted efforts, absence rates are not improving.”

Schools Week has a very interesting article on school absence figures noting that school absence hovered around 4.7 per cent in the years before the pandemic, rising to 7.5 per cent last year, according to Department for Education data. The article notes that persistent absenteeism where pupils miss 10 per cent or more classes has more than doubled, rising from 10.9 per cent in 2018-19, to 22.5 per cent last year. That equates to 1.6 million pupils and the number is rising, attendance data for this academic year up to March 31 shows the rate was 22.6 per cent.

Many involved in education believe there are now more relaxed attitudes among parents in allowing children to stay home, especially with a proven capacity of schools to provide online alternatives to in-person teaching. Nearly a quarter of children missed at least one Friday during the autumn 2021 term, according to a study based on three academy trusts by the children’s commissioner.

Dame Rachel de Souza told MPs in March this was because many parents now worked from home on that day. “We’ve had evidence from kids, ‘well, mum and dad are at home, stay at home’. We’re seeing slightly different attitudes in the post-Covid world.”

There is concern that some families appear to have lost their belief that attending school regularly is necessary for their children, with some openly questioning whether a return to schooling is needed.

There is also concern that schools are submitting an attendance “Code B” intended for when pupils are present at an approved off-site educational activity, when pupils are really working from home.

The article reports that one secondary head indicated B codes were being used to boost attendance levels,  noting that “If you say, ‘we’ve sent work home’, you can exploit the system by doing dubious things.”

According to DfE and SchoolDash Insights data the South West was the worst performing region in both 2021 and 2022 for the number of authorised illness absences within secondary schools.

Does your board regularly review attendance data and help school leaders focus support on the pupils who need it?

See the full article here