Missing school in transitional years and in early secondary is more than twice as damaging to achievement than absence in the middle years of primary, research shows.

And authorised absences, including for illness, have an equally negative impact as unauthorised absences, according to a University of Strathclyde study funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

Absence had a greater effect on academic performance in the first year of primary school in England, and this effect decreased steadily from Year 2 to Year 5.

Not attending school had a bigger impact on performance from Year 6 to Year 10, but this reduced slightly in Year 11.

Driving down pupil absence

Attendance in English schools improved in 2024-25, but severe absence - pupils missing 50 per cent or more of their sessions - remained stubbornly high.

A previous study, led by ImpactEd, had recorded a steep drop in children’s enjoyment of school between Year 6 and Year 7.

The new study involved more than 8,000 pupils in England and was carried out in collaboration with researchers at the University of Glasgow and the German Institute for Economic Research. It has been published in the American Educational Research Journal.

Reflecting on their findings, the researchers recommended increased support for pupils through the transitional years, addressing all absences with equal urgency and sharing attendance data across school stages to enable continuity of support.

They also proposed that interventions should be more focused on addressing the root causes of absence rather than punitive measures.

The government has increased fines for unauthorised absence for the first time since 2012, with parents in England now being charged £160 (up from £120) if the fine is paid within 28 days.

‘Early, sustained’ intervention

Professor Markus Klein, of Strathclyde’s Institute of Education, the project’s principal investigator, said: “At times of transition, schools typically support pupils in coping with new experiences, and so absence at these stages may be more detrimental to achievement than in other periods.”

He added: “Improving attendance requires early, sustained intervention. Patterns of absence often begin in primary school, where even authorised absences can signal longer-term disengagement.”

The researchers used data from the Millennium Cohort Study, which is linked with the National Pupil Database, the data register of all students in state schools in England.

They previously arrived at similar conclusions when analysing Scottish school attendance data.

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