{"id":3471,"date":"2023-03-01T15:53:18","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T15:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/er\/healthierminds\/?page_id=3471"},"modified":"2024-08-06T13:41:46","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T13:41:46","slug":"emotionally-based-school-absence","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/er\/healthierminds\/emotionally-based-school-absenteeism\/emotionally-based-school-absence\/","title":{"rendered":"An Introduction to Emotionally Based School Absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every episode of school absence carries a risk to the fulfilment of a learner\u2019s potential (Havik, 2019).\u00a0 Problematic school absence is a long-standing issue within education (Lachlan, 2003) and will be seen in every area of our community for a wide range of reasons.\u00a0 In some cases, practitioners may encounter intergenerational patterns where families and communities feel less connected to education and school life (Kearney, 2021).\u00a0 In others, practitioners may find that emotional and mental wellbeing or neurodiversity lie at the heart of the challenge, and school doesn\u2019t feel like a safe, secure and nurturing place to be.\u00a0 Whatever the reason, the evidence suggests that the pandemic has created greater vulnerability and risk for children, young people and families who are faced with these challenges (Phelps & Sperry, 2020).<\/p>\n

What does it look like?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many of these behaviours, whilst concerning, are often addressed effectively by schools through routine monitoring and support procedures.\u00a0 However in some cases, they can develop into severe and prolonged periods of absence that become problematic.\u00a0 There is inconsistency in how problematic absence is defined within the literature, as the behaviours are varied and the reasons behind them are complex \u00a0(Gall\u00e9-Tessonneau et al.,2019; Childs & Lofton, 2021) Appendix A<\/a>.\u00a0 That said, there is now widespread recognition that almost all problematic absence is driven by a person\u2019s emotional wellbeing (Kearney & Graczynk, 2020; Rae, 2020).<\/p>\n

Understanding problematic school absence as a symptom of an emotional wellbeing need makes it possible to focus on:<\/p>\n