Forth Valley and West Lothian Regional Improvement Collaborative
Attendance Focus: August-October 2022
Research Summary
| Research reference (with link) |
| Understanding school attendance: The missing link in “Schooling for All”
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| Research methodology / Data Collection methods |
| This research comprised of a retrospective study in India using data gathered from the Understanding Adults and Young Adolescents survey (UDAYA). The researchers note that although India has nearly 100% enrolment in school they have far fewer children and young people actually attending. They sought to ascertain the factors for this. They began by listing a range of ‘demand’ and ‘supply’ factors which they discovered should be superseded by ‘push/pull/opt out’ factors -some of which may be relevant to the Scottish Education system. The data was collected by Population Council on 20,574 adolescents between the ages 10–19 in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and studied a wide range of parameters such as education, schooling, employability, entry into marriage and motherhood, violence experienced in private and public spheres, gender norms and agency, access to media and technology, health and nutrition, parental engagement and entitlements associated with the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The data was collected in two waves- 2015–16 and 2018–19. This analysis is based on data collected in the first phase of the study. |
| Key relevant findings |
| -Absenteeism is a multipronged problem, and therefore, its study should involve parents, education staff and local educational administrators for a complete understanding of the problem. Future studies must also take into consideration the additional dynamics that the present pandemic brings into the problem of absenteeism (Akmal et al., 2020)
– The study discussed that addressing absenteeism among older children would probably require some combination of relevant curriculum, classroom interventions as well as monitoring and supervision by schools. – The study reported that the role of the teacher also needs to be leveraged in encouraging students to attend school regularly. -When the Delhi government provided free sanitary products to girls enrolled in grades 6–12 between 2011 and 2016, it found relative success in improving attendance (Agarwal, 2018). -A framework more comprehensive than the demand- supply framework is needed for a holistic understanding of the reasons behind school non- attendance. It is perhaps more useful to categorize factors of absenteeism as “pull, push” and “opt out” (Murphy-Graham et al., 2020). “Push” factors are those that operate at the level of school pushing children to absent themselves from school while “pull” factors operate at the level of the household. “Opt-out” factors are intrinsic to the child such as lack of interest in pursuing schooling/ education. In short to medium term, school and educational administrators should focus on “push” factors that cause the child to be absent from school regularly. “Pull” factors typically do not fall within the domain of the schooling system. However, if children are not able to attend school on account of their family’s circumstances, then financial incentives reducing the costs of education could be a way forward for ensuring regular attendance of these children. * -Local Authorities could also enlist initiatives that improve children’s health if it emerges as a significant reason for absenteeism. *Demand Factors Cited- Demographic Household Characteristics, Gender, Age, Parental Education, Economic and Cultural Background, Marital Status and Physical Aspects Supply Factors Cited- Infrastructure (including toileting facilities) School Experience |
| Questions research raises |
| The researchers posed the following questions, within their study, as areas to subsequently address-
Is it the case that school absenteeism starts early in primary school (Reid, 2005)? Do children who have higher absenteeism in primary school continue to have higher absenteeism at higher levels of schooling? Or do they drop out of the schooling system? Is absenteeism higher at times of transition e.g., from primary to upper primary school etc.? |
| Follow up reading suggestions |
| Baker, M., Drange, N., & Gjefsen, H. M. (2022). An evaluation of a national program to reduce student absenteeism in high school. NBER Working Paper No. 30194.
Ballantyne, C., Wilson, C., Toye, M.K., & Gillespie-Smith, K. (2022). Knowledge and barriers to inclusion of ASC pupils in Scottish mainstream schools: A mixed methods approach. International Journal of Inclusive Education. DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2022.2036829 Cunningham, A., Harvey, K., & Waite, P. (2022). School staffs’ experiences of supporting children with school attendance difficulties in primary school: A qualitative study. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, DOI: 10.1080/13632752.2022.2067704 |
