Welsh schools are being told to ensure that what they offer is “engaging, interesting and relevant” in a bid to improve attendance.
The advice is contained in new guidance published today by the Welsh government. It says “attendance will improve if learners actively want to come to school” and that “schools that have increased attendance have typically carefully designed their curriculum offer and improved pedagogy through professional development and research-informed practice”.
The guidance also makes it clear that fines for absence should only be used as a last resort and “in extreme cases, when all efforts to engage the family have been tried and failed in having an impact”.
It adds: “A warning, rather than a penalty, should normally be issued in the first instance, and in most cases this is enough to raise awareness of the severity of the attendance issue and lead to improved attendance.”
The guidance follows figures on secondary school absence rates, which were published last month for the first time since 2018-19.
The data for 2022-23 shows that the proportion of secondary students persistently absent from school last year trebled to 16.3 per cent.
Before the pandemic about one in 20 secondary students were persistently absent, but last year the proportion increased to one in six.
School attendance issues
The figures prompted Welsh education minister Jeremy Miles to announce a “national attendance taskforce” in September, to “drive improvements” in attendance and re-engage pupils.
Persistent absence in Wales is currently defined as a pupil being absent at least 20 per cent of the time. However, the Welsh government has announced today that this definition will change, and it plans to bring Wales in line with England, where persistent absence is defined as missing 10 per cent of sessions.
Today Mr Miles said schools had been “working hard to support learners back into the classroom” but the attendance crisis needed “a national approach”, and improving attendance was his “number one priority”.
The new guidance acknowledges that school attendance can be “hugely complex” and that although absence is often talked about “in generalised terms”, any approach to improvement needs to be “personalised and individualised to address the specific needs of each learner”.
It says there are “no quick fixes” and that “improving attendance requires long-term commitment and perseverance”, as well as engagement with children and their families.
The guidance recommends:
- Prevention and early intervention on absence to ensure issues do not escalate or become entrenched - home visits when children first start school, it says, can help to build positive relationships in a more relaxed setting.
- A “learner-centred” approach based on the rights of the child because the causes of non-attendance often prove to be “unique” and involving pupils in decisions that affect them improves engagement and attendance.
- A whole-school approach - the guidance says improving attendance should be the responsibility of all staff and “not something for the pastoral team and the education welfare service (EWS) only”
- Building strong and trusting relationships with parents and carers, not least because younger pupils often depend on family members to get them to school.
- Building a positive ethos and culture because “positive relationships between staff and learners are a key factor in whether learners want to attend school”.
The Welsh school attendance guidance can be read in full here.
