A total of 170,000 pupils missed more than half of the school sessions available to them last term, new analysis suggests.
FFT Education Datalab’s Attendance Tracker, which uses figures from 2,800 secondary schools and 7,800 primary schools, also suggests that almost 5 per cent of students in Years 10 and 11 were “severe absentees” in autumn 2022.
And across the full population of pupils, its analysis suggests that more than a quarter (25.6 per cent) of pupils were persistent absentees last term, meaning they missed more than one in 10 sessions.
Previous data from autumn 2021 suggested that 23.5 per cent of pupils were persistently absent.
But this was at a time when schools were marking pupils who were isolating as “code X” on attendance registers and they were not counted in official absence statistics.
If they were included, FFT says the percentage of persistent absence would have been even higher at 28.5 per cent.
The FFT analysis shows that in 2022 disadvantaged pupils - those eligible for free school meals in the previous six years - were far more likely to be classified as persistent absentees than other pupils.
Tackling ‘severe’ school absence
The analysis by FFT shows that half of “severe absentees” were absent for just one spell, meaning all of their missed sessions were consecutive.
At the other end of the spectrum, 15 per cent of “severe absentees” missed 15 or more spells.
A pupil is classed as severely absent if they miss more than half of their sessions.
FFT says in its blog that only around 20 per cent of those who had one or two spells of absence in the autumn of 2021 were persistent absentees the next term, compared with at least 90 per cent of those with 10 or more spells.
As a result, it concludes: “Schools could focus any resources they have to improve attendance on those who are more likely to remain persistently absent. Many may well be doing this already.
“The Department for Education could help by redefining the persistent absence measures so that pupils with an absence rate between 10 per cent and 20 cent but who were absent for only at most two (or three) spells are not classified as persistent absentees.
“If we were to do this (based on no more than two spells), it would have reduced the percentage of persistent absentees for autumn 2022 from 25.6 per cent to 21.9 cent, and therefore offset (to some extent) the higher level of illness that is currently being experienced in schools”.
MPs on the Commons Education Select Committee have said that they will investigate the causes of - and possible solutions to - persistent absence in schools as part of a new inquiry.
The committee has said it will question experts and education sector leaders on current government proposals and plans, such as those to improve schools’ data collection on attendance, and will also look at other solutions.
