A new government report has looked at the impact of school absences on academic achievement and future prospects, including lifetime earnings.
The report from the Department for Education, published 14th March, estimated the monetary impact of one missed school day in state-funded secondary schools.
It found that an additional school absence for the typical student is associated with a loss of around £750 in future earnings.
Pupils who are persistently absent from their secondary school – meaning they miss more than 10% of their school time – could earn around £10,000 less at age 28 compared to their peers with 95-100% attendance.
Missed school days harm future career prospects
Increased school absences were also associated with increased likelihood, at age 28, of claiming benefits for a sustained period or not being in stable employment. It also estimated a reduction in earnings at age 28 of 0.8% per day of school missed for the typical student.
The report also highlighted more immediate impacts for absent pupils; those who miss more days of school are likely to achieve worse grades in their GCSEs.
Researchers found that one day of school absence between Years 7 to 11 is associated with reduced attainment. It is estimated that for every 13 days of absence, a child is likely to experience a 1 grade decrease.
The report also estimated that the likelihood of claiming benefits increases by 2.7 times for persistently absent pupils. This rises to 4.2 times for pupils classed as severely absent, meaning they miss more than 50% of their possible school sessions.
Furthermore, the report estimates that the likelihood of remaining in sustained employment for 12 months decreases by around 60% for persistently absent pupils, and by 75% for those who are severely absent.
School absence rates a result of “broken contract”
School absences have been a growing problem for the last few years, largely attributed to the closure of schools during the Covid-19 lockdowns, with many blaming the “broken contract” between schools and families.
A 2023 YouGov poll conducted for the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) thinktank found that almost 1 in 3 parents (28%) believed the Covid-19 pandemic showed that it is not essential for children to attend school every day.
The report, entitled ‘The Missing Link: Restoring the bond between schools and families’ questioned 1,206 parents during December 2023 and also found only 70% were confident that their child’s needs were being met at school. This dropped to 61% for parents of secondary school-aged children.
The government report states that, prior to the pandemic, the overall absence rate for schools was 4.7 in the academic year 2018-19. Once schools began to reopen in the easing of lockdown measures, absence rates rose sharply to 7.6% in the 2021-22 academic year, and they have remained high since.
By the 2022-23 academic year, schools had only managed to drive down absences by 0.2% to 7.4%.
In addition, the percentage of pupils classed as persistently absent has almost doubled from 10.9% in 2018-19 to 21.2% in 2022-23. Severe absence has more than doubled, rising from 0.8% to 2%.
Measures to improve school attendance
The government says it has developed a raft of measures to reduce school absences.
They are introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school across England to ensure “children start the day well-nourished and ready to learn,” while also hopefully providing a boost to improve behaviour, attendance and attainment and helping working families with childcare.
The Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams (RISE) programme has also been launched to help share best practice and excellence across the whole school system.
The government says this will provide “a targeted service, focused on stuck schools,” as well as “a universal offer which aims to support all schools to continuously improve and to achieve high standards.”
RISE teams will focus on 4 key areas: inclusion, attainment with a focus on English and Maths, reception quality and, crucially, attendance.
The government says it also offers attendance hubs and an attendance mentoring programme to support thousands of children to attend school regularly.
The government says that parents and carers also have a crucial role to play in tackling school absences.
They advise: “Only keep your child off school when they are genuinely too ill to attend. Book medical appointments and holidays outside of school time whenever possible. And talk to your child’s school if you’re having difficulties with attendance.”
Families face complex issues when it comes to school attendance
However, critics have pointed out that ensuring children attend school is not always a straightforward choice.
Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can often struggle with a lack of dedicated and effective SEN provision while many children and young people across the UK are currently facing complex mental health challenges, with not enough support provided in schools.
Some parents have also raised concerns about bullying, which has created a barrier to their child being able to attend school safely.
Meanwhile, the cost-of-living crisis has meant some families face challenges in travelling to and from school and making sure children are equipped with the correct uniform and other essential school equipment.
The government acknowledges that some children and their families “may encounter additional obstacles,” and urges: “For those experiencing complex barriers to attendance, schools should engage in compassionate discussions with both children and their families, collaborating to provide tailored support that meets their specific needs.”
Training to support schools and pupils
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as health and safety, first aid, fire safety, manual handling, food safety, mental health, health and social care, safeguarding and more.
They work with a large number of primary and secondary schools as well as early years and childcare providers, colleges, universities and children’s services.
Their courses include Health and Safety for Child Carers and Safeguarding of Children in Education.
They also deliver a range of training to help people support mental health and wellbeing and identify when individuals may be experiencing emotional and mental distress. These include Understanding Mental Health, Youth Mental Health First Aid, Anxiety Awareness, Self-Harm Awareness and Suicide Awareness.
A trainer from FRT says:
“Back in September 2023, figures were published which revealed that more than 1.7 million children were persistently absent from school in 2021-22. This means that they missed 10% or more of school time.
“The current school absences crisis has been building for a while and, in Autumn 2022, Ofsted said that nearly a quarter of all pupils in England were classed as persistently absent.
“It is clear that robust and effective measures are needed to rectify the problem, build back trust between parents and schools and ensure that children are supported to attend school and do not suffer.
“We hope that the new measures introduced by the government boost school attendance and make a positive change. Proper training and support to help staff identify and address mental health problems, safeguarding issues and other difficulties can also help ensure that more children are given early help and support and feel able and willing to attend school.”
A brief summary of our mental health training can now be downloaded as an infographic.
You can also download our free Guide to Mental Health Training from our website.
For more information on the training that FRT can provide, please call them today on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.