School staff play an integral role in identifying and supporting pupils and families who require additional support to regularly attend school. Understanding the reason for absenteeism and the child or young persons’ individual circumstances is essential in ensuring that the correct intervention is identified.
There has been a national decline in school attendance post COVID from 95.6% in 2018/19 to 90.9% 2022/23. Potential reasons for this decline include, but are not limited to, increasing levels of pupil and parental anxiety post-COVID and an increase in sickness post pandemic. There are a variety of interdependent risk factors that can impact on attendance noted below:
Individual Factors
- Physical health / condition
- Negative attitude to education/school
- Poor mental health
- Social isolation
- Poor peer relationships
- Age
- Additional Support Needs
- Risk taking behaviour
- Substance misuse (alcohol and drugs)
School-based Factors
- Poor pupil-teacher relationships
- Low attainment & achievement levels
- Low school expectations / culture and ethos
- Negative class or school climate
Family / Context Factors
- Low socio-economic status
- Single parent household
- Low family cohesion / family conflict
- Low level of parental control / poor parental engagement
It is important to note that many attendance issues develop from complex interactions between risk factors. Klein et al (2022) acknowledge the multifaceted and complex determinants of school absenteeism however they highlight socio-economic status as the most important predictor for absenteeism citing the link between socio-economic status and a national decline in attendance following the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, for children and young people living in poverty the detrimental impact of poor attendance may be higher as “their families may have fewer resources to compensate for lost instructional time”
Education Scotland [2023]identifies groups more likely to have low attendance:
- “those impacted by poverty
- Secondary-aged pupils
- Young people for Gypsy and Traveller communities
- Pupils with additional support needs including:
- Children and young people who have care experience
- Young carers
- Children and young people who have experienced exclusion
- Anxious children and young people”
It is therefore essential that schools effectively monitor and track these groups within their whole school tracking systems
