Survey findings published by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) at its annual conference in Liverpool last week revealed some disturbing reasons for student absence.
One-third (32%) of the 8,411 teachers and school leaders responding to the research said that they have seen students missing school because of a dispute with their parents or carers. This figure rises to 48% among headteacher respondents to the survey.
The research asked what reasons parents/carers gave for student absence other than illness and found that term-time holidays is most common (87% rising to 95% among headteachers), ahead of family events (76% rising to 88%).
And 51% of the respondents, including 64% of the headteachers also reported that students had been kept home because they were too tired from an event the previous evening.
Worryingly, 66% (rising to 76% of headteachers) said that students were simply too anxious to attend school emphasising just how much of a problem emotionally based school avoidance has become since the pandemic.
There is emerging evidence that parental attitudes to school have altered since the pandemic. A report by the think tank Public First last year warned that Covid had caused a “seismic shift” in parental attitudes to attendance due in part to a “fundamental breakdown” in the relationship between schools and parents (Burtonshaw & Dorrell, 2023).
The study says that term-time holidays have become “socially acceptable” while school attendance systems feel “increasingly draconian” to families. It states: “Sanctions are seen as both irrelevant and antagonistic across all parent groups.”
It also warns of the huge rise in mental health problems for young people which it says is “compounding issues around attendance”.
Incoming ASCL president John Camp used his address to the conference to call for a “change of tone” in the national conversation about education. He raised his fears about the deterioration of the unwritten “social contract” between families and schools.
He told delegates: “This is a hugely complex issue. But what I find alarming is those reasons which suggest absence from school may not be seen in the way it used to. And in particular, it is surprising that some children are kept at home because of a dispute with the school.
“This is an extreme – but apparently common – example of the fracturing of that unwritten social contract.”
He called for “tangible solutions” to the attendance crisis, including greater investment in mental health support for children who are suffering from anxiety and depression, and attendance support services to identify what is going wrong and work directly with families.
It comes after the government set out a new fines regime from September for unauthorised absence. A national framework for parental fines will see fines of £80 for any student who misses 10 or more half-days within any 10-week period – although schools will still have discretion.
However, the Public First report warned against this kind of approach, calling fines “deeply unpopular with parents across the social spectrum” and urging their review and potential abolition.
And analysis reported in Headteacher Update last week found that the new threshold would hit disadvantaged students and those with SEN the hardest.
The latest DfE attendance figures show that persistent absence in the autumn term 2023 improved year-on-year but is still running at 20.1%.
For his part, Mr Camp also wants to see a change in the way politicians and the media talk about schools.
He said: “I think something else is also needed. And that is a change of tone in the national conversation about education. An acknowledgement that everybody in public life must do more to talk up the many good things about schools and colleges, and to talk about teaching as the noble profession it is.
“It often seems like some politicians and commentators are far too quick to take potshots at schools. Potshots that are often based on confused perceptions, political agendas, and which are generally misplaced.
“If politicians and commentators are constantly running down teachers and schools, and giving the impression that we can’t be trusted, then they’re helping to create a division.
“I don’t, of course, think that this – on its own – is the reason for that fracturing of the social contract. But it certainly doesn’t help. It creates a febrile climate. And when social media is added into the mix, things can get very nasty very quickly. As I am sure many of us have experienced.
“There will always be a robust debate about any education system. But we really do need for that debate to be more positive and less corrosive.”
- Burtonshaw & Dorrell: Listening to, and learning from, parents in the attendance crisis, Public First, 2023: http://tinyurl.com/2p9zjp6z