A “punitive approach” to improving school attendance “no longer works”, experts have warned.
Schools should instead provide support to families of pupils with poor attendance records, say researchers behind a new study suggesting that a “collaborative approach” is more effective.
This shift from a “punitive to collaborative model” can be achieved “by elevating staff and parental voice”, according to the study by the ImpactEd research firm.
These findings go further than those in an earlier report from ImpactEd’s Understanding Attendance project, which concluded that sanctions and disciplinary approaches to attendance “have their place” but are “often of limited use”.
The report comes amid an increase in parental fines being handed out for unauthorised absences.
Strong start to school attendance ‘crucial’
The study, published today, analysed attendance data from more than 300,000 pupils from key stage 2 to key stage 5, as well as social and emotional data collected from more than 70,000 pupils covering those phases.
The report says that higher attendance at the start of the academic year is “crucial” in determining trends for the rest of the year.
The overall attendance rate for Years 3 to 13 was 90.9 per cent in the first half of the autumn term of 2023-24, say researchers.
However, this fell to 88.5 per cent in the first half of the summer term.
The overall attendance rate for Year 7 had the steepest fall, out of all year groups, between the first and second half of the autumn term, dropping by 2.43 per cent.
Despite this fall, the attendance rate “stabilised” later in the year, ImpactEd says.
Between the second half of the autumn term and the first half of the spring term, the Year 7 attendance rate fell by just 0.25 per cent.
“The first three months of the year are therefore a critical time for addressing attendance issues before they become embedded,” the report concludes.
It adds that a “strong start to attendance routines” can have a “significant benefit for the rest of the academic year”.
The finding follows calls from the children’s commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, to target 100 per cent attendance for the first day of the new academic year.
‘Sense of belonging’ important
ImpactEd research also suggests that a “sense of belonging” is associated with good school attendance.
Lower attendance among female pupils on average was reflected in a lower reported sense of belonging (a score of 3.15 out of 5 compared with 3.3 for boys).
The report concludes that “a focus on small communities, individual attention and specialist support can help” to build a sense of belonging for pupils.
Researchers say that schools “found success in focusing on small groups, such as form groups, lunch and after-school clubs, as being accessible ways to help pupils engage with some aspects of the school community”.
ImpactED’s earlier report had warned that a greater focus was needed on the “second transition” period when pupils move up from Year 7 to Year 8, when attendance sometimes drops.
According to today’s report, the average attendance rate in Year 7 was 91.1 per cent, dropping to 88.8 per cent in Year 8. This fall was linked to lower scores in social and emotional tests in the latter year group.
“On average, Year 8 pupils feel less connected to the school community, less engaged in their learning and less safe in their school environment compared to Year 7 pupils,” the report says.
It highlights that, while 80 per cent of pupils said they were aware of the consequences of missing lessons, just 62 per cent agreed that their school cared when they missed school, and just 52 per cent felt that their teacher cared.
Attendance is ‘everyone’s job’
Attendance has been a major focus of the government and schools in recent years. The previous government recently expanded its attendance hub programme, announcing that 18 more schools were to become hubs, taking the total number to 32.
And earlier this year Labour said it would use artificial intelligence to spot trends in absence.
Today’s report concludes that “seeing attendance as everyone’s job can help build a sense of action around absence”.
The children’s commissioner previously told Tes that school leaders must not be left to deal with the pupil attendance crisis “on their own”.
The ImpactEd report recommends building a “community around attendance”.
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