Punitive attendance
Getting children into school has long been the justification for intrusive state measures with ‘truancy’ declared a focus in 1997 by the incoming Blair government. Evidence of over twenty years shows that cracking down on children and families doesn’t help. So why are we doing it again?
The current ways to ‘solve’ the problem of ‘persistent absence’ include live government tracking of children, police involvement and increased levels of fines and punishments. There’s calls for unique numbers (essentially the basis of ID cards) to be implemented.
Yet there is a serious mismatch between these measures – and the accompanying rhetoric – and the challenges that children and their families are experiencing. Lurid headlines are based on confusing statistics, an indefensible mixing up of correlation and causation along with a mixing up of different cohorts and issues.
Problems connected with ongoing ‘austerity’ and with a lack of state provision and support are being made the responsibility of schools, already struggling under years of cuts and lack of resources.
The measures being introduced not only don’t help children and their families but instead are a further overstep of the state and cause of harm and distress.
“…make full use of enforcement actions where appropriate. During the height of the pandemic, suspending the use of these measures felt most appropriate, but as we push now to maximise school attendance, it is important that they are once again being applied across the country.”
Nadhim Zahawi,Former Minister for Education,
Letter to schools (2021)
“The police will also be supporting the school in carrying out home visits for students who are absent from school.”
Letter sent to parents of children attending Mossley Hollins High School
(As reported in the Mirror newspaper, 2023)
Fines and prosecutions harm not help
Government guidance says that support should be offered first but with a 96% target plus years of funding cuts schools are struggling.
What punitive action does is add to the stress, anxiety and difficulty for families who are in need of support not punishment. What’s more is that the government’s own research shows that those who are likely to meet the new threshold are those such as children with SEND, children classed as in need, including looked after children and children who get Free School Meals.
“Disincentives, such as fines, known to not work in boosting attendance.”
Punishment doesn’t help
“Rather than cutting truancy, after all the crackdowns and approaching a billion pounds spent directly or indirectly on the problem, the rate of unauthorised absences is higher now than in 1997. Then, the rate of unauthorised absences was 0.7% of pupils – the most recent annual figures, for 2006-07, show it was 1%. Instead of being cut by a third, it has risen by more than a third.”
“Estelle Morris, education secretary when the tactic of jailing parents was first used in England, now has doubts about its value. At the time it was a sanction worth attempting, but she says: “I don’t like it, I’m not at ease with it. If I was a minister now, I would want to look at the evidence – and if going to prison never worked or hardly ever worked, I would want to backtrack.”
“…there is no published evidence that parental legal sanctions are effective in getting young people into school, or that if they attended in an anxious state they would actually be able to achieve anything academically. Evidence also shows that more frequently prosecuting authorities have no have better attendance than those that use prosecution less often.”
Not Fine In School
Attendance
“We are astounded at proposed penalties to be handed out by schools, for children who fail to attend for whatever reason; which will lead to fines and prosecutions for many parents, some of whom are already known to local authorities for Section 47 or 17 support per the Children Act. In addition, it seems likely that these proposals will further criminalise Black and minority ethnic children and families, specifically those subject to exploitation or disadvantaged by health considerations.”
The Victoria Climbié Foundation UK
No to Schools Bill
Cause? Or symptom? It matters
Government claims are misleading
There is no evidence of a causal link between attendance and attainment, only correlation. The previous government defended their claims on the grounds that they used the word ‘could’ rather than ‘will’ and continued to misrepresent the facts.
The data from the 2016 study even showed that pupils who were absent from school because of authorised holiday actually achieved HIGHER grades.
Correlation....causation...?!!Example…Approx 50% of those sentenced to custody were known to be eligible for free school meals, according to the Ministry of Justice.
It would clearly be a nonsense to suggest that free school meals were the cause of young people offending. Or even more ludicrously that free school meals must be cracked down on to reduce offending. Yet this is exactly what the government is doing with absence from school.
Is not attending school the cause of problems? Or a symptom? Which it is matters a lot because if it is a symptom that means we should tackle those issues rather than focus on attendance itself.
Protect the NHS, take health measures in schools, provide adequate SEND support – or even better make schools places that are good for all. Maybe listen to children and families (and teachers) about what they want schools and education to be like. Keeping schools smaller is one way which might address bullying and other serious behavioural problems. Reducing poverty and inequality. Making sure housing and hunger is not a problem.
In short, respect and act in accordance with children’s human rights.
The alternative – and the path we are on – is bleak. Ever increasing force and fines and punishment and police. Is this what we want for our children?
“It seems likely that some factor (such as socio-economic conditions, parental support, or geographic area) is responsible both for lower attainment and lower school attendance. This central claim that lower attendance actually *causes* lower attainment has not been supported by any evidence presented in the responses.”
Professor Alan Barr
What do they know? Evidence for school absences (2016)
Persistent absence
Persistent absence is NOT the same as unauthorised absence, it includes any type of absence from school for whatever reason. Importantly, while the term ‘persistent absence’ has been in use since 2005 what it means has changed significantly over time. This makes it difficult to unpick changes, to work out what is happening and therefore what should be done.
Latest figures show that between a fifth to a quarter of children are ‘persistently absent’ according to the government’s current yardstick.
“…perhaps the persistent absence measure should be redefined. This begs the question of why we measure persistent absence. Is it just a statistical measure of how many pupils miss “a lot” of school? Or is it a way of identifying pupils who need additional support, leaving aside the important question of how practical that is in the current political and economic climate.”
FFT Education DataLab
Should we redefine persistent absence?
Maybe 10%
isn’t a useful measure??
Shifting definition
In 2005/06 – when the term was first introduced – it meant missing 64 sessions (32 days or approx 20%)
In 2010/11 it meant missing 56 sessions (28 days or approx 15%)
In 2015/16 it was changed to 38 sessions (19 days or approx 10%)
It is now calculated on a rolling basis so – for example – any child missing seven sessions (3.5 days) in the first half term will be classed as persistently absent.
“…perhaps the persistent absence measure should be redefined. This begs the question of why we measure persistent absence. Is it just a statistical measure of how many pupils miss “a lot” of school? Or is it a way of identifying pupils who need additional support, leaving aside the important question of how practical that is in the current political and economic climate.”
FFT Education DataLab
Should we redefine persistent absence?
“The ratcheting up of the persistent school absenteeism threshold creates tensions between parents whose children are unable to attend school, undermining the close cooperation between parent, school and child that best practice demands. The escalating threshold also allows schools to police an increasing large cohort of parents and give head teachers the powers to prosecute. It adds perverse incentives to schools to exclude pupils whose absenteeism is reflected poorly in their attendance and attainment metrics.”
Tim Linehan
LSE Blog: Let’s stop talking truancy (2023)
Illness
“Illness is the underlying reason for absence for the majority of persistent absentees.”
FFT Education DataLab
Should we redefine persistent absence?
We know that illness – which has risen significantly for adults too – accounts for half of absence. So what to do about it?
Although the government’s own information shows that children are off because of absence with “12.4% of all pupils missing 10% or more sessions due to illness alone” they continue’s to act as if it were a problem of children’s and parents poor behaviour, insisting that children should go in even if ‘mildly’ unwell.
Yet not only is COVID a sickness which didn’t previously exist but there are growing numbers of people including children suffering from Long Covid and – evidence suggests – from related conditions. Plus the decimation of the NHS means it is harder to see a GP or get primary health support and there are longer waits for most services.
We can’t fine or punish our way out of this problem. Insisting children go in even if sick might well be making it worse by spreading illness.
We need action – in line with children’s right to health – to protect the NHS and to put in place health measures to tackle the problems.
“70% of respondents stating that absences through illness had been marked as unauthorised during the 2022/23 academic year.”
Not Fine in School
2023 parental survey on unauthorised absence
“COVID-19: If your child has mild symptoms, such as a runny nose, sore throat, or slight cough, and feels well enough, they can go to school.”
NHS website
Is my child too ill for school?
“Most countries have seen inactivity rates resume a long-term downtrend as the Covid shock has faded. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that ballooning NHS waiting lists are a contributing factor.”
“As a paediatrician, I’ve seen first hand the damaging impact that long waiting times have on children, on their education and overall wellbeing, and of course on their families”
Dr Camilla Kingdon, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).
Quoted in Guardian: Sick children’s health worsening as record numbers wait for NHS care in England (2023)
“The average rate of employee absence now stands at 7.8 days per employee per year, a considerable increase since we last reported this from data collected before the pandemic in October/November 2019 (5.8 days per employee).”
Unauthorised absence
Unauthorised absence in 2022/23 was 2.5%
The government has recently changed the thresholds for fines for unauthorised absence. Fines will be levied when a child has had ten unauthorised days of absence in a ten week rolling period. The first time this happens the parent will be charged £80 (up from £60), if there is a second period of absence within a three year period the fine will be £160. If this happens a third time then a parenting order or prosecution will be considered, fines can be up to £2,500 or parents could be sent to prison.
Historically 89% of fines have been for holidays but with the new threshold there are concerns that this will be widened.
Unauthorised holiday
Unauthorised absence in 2022/23 was 2.5%
There has been a significant shift in attitudes over the last ten years. Prior to 2013 holiday up to 10 days was mostly accepted as a normal part of childhood. Holiday is no longer authorised during term-time.
“It shouldn’t be that a tragedy has to befall a family for a child to get leave during term-time. There are many more joyous and positive occasions in life when consideration should be given to granting leave requests, such as a wedding or perhaps a sporting event involving a family member. These can have social and emotional benefits which are of lasting value and support to young people.”
Local Government Association
Quoted in Schools Week: Government plans to change term-time holiday law (2016)
“The issue is no longer about term time holidays. It is about the state taking the rights of parents away when it comes to making decisions about their children. You can no longer make a decision to take your child out of school, even for one morning, without the permission of the state.”
Unauthorised ‘other’
We know that children who are ‘disadvantaged’ and those who are classed as SEND are absent from school at higher rates.
Department for Education research found that a small number of pupils accounted for a large amount of absence. “In 2018/19 2.4% of all pupils were persistently absent for unauthorised other reasons, but accounted for 13.3% of all absences across the year.”
Research by Not Fine in School –a peer support group for those whose children struggle with going to school -completed by 900 parents found that 70% of respondents had experienced absences through illness being marked as unauthorised during the 2022/23 academic year. Parents also flagged anxiety and extremely negative emotional responses and distress to attending school, described as ‘Emotionally Based School Avoidance’.
“By marking absences like these as unauthorised, it immediately pits parents against schools. It says to parents: ‘we don’t believe you’. It says to professionals: ‘there is doubt over the veracity of this parent’. The impact that this can have on families is tremendous.”
Not Fine in School
2023 parental survey on unauthorised absence
“Unauthorised absence is driven by absence that is neither authorised nor explained by lateness or an unauthorised holiday suggesting that this type of absence is both problematic and preventable.”
Department for Education
Persistent absence for unauthorised other reasons: Who is at risk? (2023)
“Other reasons given by parents for their child’s absence included autism, sleep issues, close family illness (such as cancer) and bereavement, recovery from suicide attempts, and ‘child on child’ abuse at school. A number of people said that it was a combination of reasons, often physical symptoms of anxiety such as vomiting and headaches, as well as poor mental health because of unmet needs.”
Not Fine in School
2023 parental survey on unauthorised absence
System is the problem
It is widely known that children classed as SEND and those who are disadvantaged attend school at lower rates than the more affluent and those who have no special needs or disabilities. Government policy in effect frames these children and families as the problem, therefore justifying attempts to change the ‘behaviour’ of the child or of the family without ever looking at whether the school system itself is fit for purpose. We need to ask whether the curriculum and system itself is fit for purpose.
“…policy in England, as globally, still ignores this crisis, failing to make the link between children’s fear and loathing at school with their declining intention to engage in learning.”
Professor Eleanore Hargreaves and Drs Laura Quick and Denise Buchanan
Journal of Curriculum Studies: National Curriculum and Assessment in England and the continuing narrowed experiences of lower-attainers in primary schools (2023)
“Think of it this way…Less & less people are ‘attending’ the pub. Instead of asking ‘why are people less keen to come (?!)’ pub owner hires someone to make the punters come back without considering changing anything whatsoever about the pub shouting, ‘just come back’ at them.”
Dr Chris Bagley
X
“Jerry tended to miss many days of school. We asked Jerry to imagine how school would be different if they focussed on sport, art and computers instead of mathematics and English during the morning. He replied: I would be like kwww! [indicates speeding into school] Much better! . . . Much easier . . . [I’d] be coming in every day. Because like normally there’s some days that I don’t really want to get up [and attend school].”
Professor Eleanore Hargreaves and Drs Laura Quick and Denise Buchanan
Journal of Curriculum Studies: National Curriculum and Assessment in England and the continuing narrowed experiences of lower-attainers in primary schools (2023)
“Where’s the problem here? Is it ‘behaviour’ and they should simply be made to keep going to school? Or is there a problem with what is going on in some schools, creating an environment in which some children simply can’t thrive?”
Dr Naomi Fisher
Think Again: Why Aren’t They in School?
“When asked, pupils were significantly more likely to identify school-based factors as limiting their attendance compared to home-based or individual factors.”
“Think of it this way…Less & less people are ‘attending’ the pub. Instead of asking ‘why are people less keen to come (?!)’ pub owner hires someone to make the punters come back without considering changing anything whatsoever about the pub shouting, ‘just come back’ at them.”
Dr Chris Bagley
X
“Jerry tended to miss many days of school. We asked Jerry to imagine how school would be different if they focussed on sport, art and computers instead of mathematics and English during the morning. He replied: I would be like kwww! [indicates speeding into school] Much better! . . . Much easier . . . [I’d] be coming in every day. Because like normally there’s some days that I don’t really want to get up [and attend school].”
Professor Eleanore Hargreaves and Drs Laura Quick and Denise Buchanan
Journal of Curriculum Studies: National Curriculum and Assessment in England and the continuing narrowed experiences of lower-attainers in primary schools (2023)
“…what is needed now is a collective, collaborative, and unified response whereby we stop fighting between each other as cogs within this system and parents, teachers, head teachers, EPs, SEN Casework officers, young people if they want to, and all others involved in this broken system turn our voices collectively and roar back at the guardians of the system instead. We must insist together that the systems are reformed.”