School attendance sanctions seen as “irrelevant and antagonistic” across all parent groups: research

Research carried out by Public First has found there has been a “profound breakdown” in parental attitudes to the idea of full-time school attendance in the years since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report, ‘Listening to, and learning from, parents in the attendance crisis’’, notes that overall absence is up by more than 50% since 2019 and persistent absence (pupils missing 10% or more of lessons) has more than doubled.

It was found that the attendance crisis is being felt “more acutely” in secondary than primary schools. Absence rates in primary schools were 6% in primary and 9.3% in secondary. Persistent absence rates in primary schools for 2022-2023 were 17.2%, in comparison to 28.3% in secondary schools.

Sir Hamid Patel, CEO of Star Academies described the current data as pointing to a “full-blown national crisis”, adding that the report’s findings “help to explain why”.

Researchers undertook focus group conversations with parents across the country to find out what was driving the sudden drop in attendance.

According to Public First, parents in the focus groups were clear that school closures during the pandemic had shifted attitudes to the idea of full-time school attendance in “an unprecedented way”.

Other factors driving the drop in attendance were found to include:

• The increased willingness among parents to take children on holiday during term-time.
• The rise in mental health problems among young people.
• The cost-of-living crisis.

The report concluded that fines for significant absence were “counterproductive”, and that sanctions are seen as both “irrelevant and antagonistic” across all parent groups.

“There was absolutely no shame [amongst parents] in ‘playing the game’ in order to avoid fines, e.g. by misleading school about children being ill when they were actually on holiday”, the report noted.

Making eight key recommendations for improvement, researchers said:

1. There needs to be a review of how schools and the wider education system communicate with parents and the messaging.
2. Fines are deeply unpopular with parents across the social spectrum. The efficacy and implementation of fines should be reviewed and potentially abolished.
3. Schools should be supported to provide intensive, nuanced support to families for whom attendance is a significant issue. ​
4. There should be better joined up working and signposting to para-educational agencies including those in mental health would ensure that those best placed to offer support were doing so.
5. There is an urgent need to improve the accuracy of school-level attendance monitoring systems so that information shared with parents is accurate.​
6. The government must highlight the importance of coding attendance to schools – it is impossible to design strategies without this.​
7. This problem cannot be understood without considering funding. Other strains on education system are manifesting in the attendance crisis – better-funded schools will have better attendance. ​
8. SEND and children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) are significant factors in the attendance crisis, investing in these two areas will significantly improve attendance.

Responding to the report, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “Regular school attendance is vital for a child’s education, wellbeing and future life chances.

“There are many factors that influence school attendance and with the help of school leaders we have expanded our attendance hubs alongside wider support such as including providing a tool kit for schools on communicating with parents on this issue.

 “We have also brought together an attendance action alliance of leaders from across education, social care and health to discuss the importance of the issue and its many factors.”

Lottie Winson