Half of the multi-academy trusts offered help by a Department for Education “attendance adviser” to tackle pupil absence have rejected it, Tes can reveal.
The £500-a-day advisers were announced by the DfE last November in a bid to reduce “avoidable” and “persistent” absence.
These “expert attendance advisers with decades of first-hand experience” are hoped to boost attendance in struggling schools by drawing on best practice, using data to identify pupils in need of support, and trying to improve partnership working.
But headteachers’ leaders have been critical of the plan, saying that tackling persistent absence is a complex task that has been made harder owing to budget cuts.
Now, it emerges that half of the MAT leaders offered support by an attendance adviser have turned it down.
The DfE identified 29 local authorities and 33 MATs as “having the potential to benefit from the support of an attendance adviser”, a freedom of information response to Tes states.
But, of those, only 21 local authorities and 17 MATs have actually taken up the offer, the response adds.
Responding to the FOI data, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The idea that parachuting in attendance advisers will solve such problems is a little naïve. It is not surprising, then, that only half of the selected trusts...took up the offer.
“There really needs to be a much greater focus from the government on restoring the attendance support services cut because of pressures on local authority funding, and ensuring schools have the resources they need to provide specialist and pastoral support.”
How MATs were identified as needing help
The DfE declined to name the local authorities or MATs involved, on the basis that this is commercially sensitive information that would not be in the public interest to disclose.
However, it did set out its criteria for identifying organisations felt to be in need of help. Local authorities were selected on the basis of having “higher than average levels of historic persistent absence”, it said.
MATs, meanwhile, were selected “where one or more of their schools had higher than average levels of historic persistent absence according to the published absence data”.
Mr Barton called the attendance adviser plan “well-intentioned” but said it “doesn’t really get to grips with the problem of non-attendance in a substantive way”.
He said the reasons for high levels of persistent absence are “complex and challenging” - for example, they could be associated with significant socio-economic disadvantage.
“Local authorities and multi-academy trusts will already be well aware of these issues, and will have strategies in place,” he said.
Schools asked to share best practice
The DfE has also asked schools that have managed to cut pupil absence rates to share their “excellent approach” with others, and has been publishing some of this advice online.
Officials declined to provide the names of the schools involved, but said that 44 had been identified, all of which had above-average numbers of pupils on free school meals; were rated as “good” or “outstanding” by Ofsted; had managed to improve overall absence each year between 2014-25 and 2018-29; and had absence rates below 5 per cent in 2018-19.
Attendance is a major focus for education secretary Nadhim Zahawi, and there are widespread concerns about the long-term impact of Covid-19 on pupil attendance.
Yesterday’s Queen’s Speech contained plans for a Schools Bill that would require schools to publish an attendance policy as well as establish compulsory registers for children not in school.
Ministers are also set to create a new national system for when legal intervention and fines should be issued over pupil absence.
Commenting on the FOI data, a DfE spokesperson said: “We know that the best place for a child to learn is in the classroom with inspirational teachers, which is why we have announced a series of measures to tackle persistent absence.”
“Our dedicated attendance advisors are supporting local authorities and academy trusts that need it, and all schools will be required to have attendance policies that meet minimum national standards.”
An “attendance alliance” made up of experts from across the education sector is continuing its work to spread best practice amongst social workers, mental health practitioners and more, the spokesperson added.
“Together, this work will support every child to fulfil their potential,” they said.
