Truancy rates have risen faster in developed English-speaking countries since Covid than elsewhere, a global study reveals.
And truancy is worse among Year 11 girls than boys, the UCL research shows.
Researchers used data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), which assesses the academic achievement of 15-year-olds in around 80 countries.
On average, 34 per cent of Year 11s in English-speaking countries reported skipping school at least once in the previous fortnight - up from 25 per cent in 2018.
In England, the figure was 26 per cent in 2022, up from 18 per cent in 2018.
This compares with an average of 19 per cent across the OECD countries in 2022, down from 18 per cent in 2018.
Rise in truancy among girls
In England, female Year 11 student were six percentage points more likely to skip school than their male peers, according to the report, with similar trends also seen in the United States, Ireland and New Zealand.
Some 29 per cent of Year 11 girls surveyed for Pisa 2022 reported missing school in the previous two weeks, compared with 23 per cent of boys.
Overall, increases in truancy appear to have been driven by an “increasing proportion of teenage girls skipping school”, the report says.
This was attributed to “increasing rates of poor mental health, especially concentrated among girls, including as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
“A rise in lower-level mental health challenges disproportionately among girls could lead to a decision to skip school on a day when, for example, experiencing heightened anxiety, and, hence, play a role in explaining our findings,” the researchers say.
While they add that they cannot test this hypothesis, they say “it may be worth future exploration”.
Research by the Education Policy Institute earlier this year found that the pandemic had a bigger effect on girls’ learning than on boys’.
Targeted interventions ‘crucial’
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds were more likely to skip school in England, the report says.
Before the pandemic, 21 per cent of disadvantaged students admitted to missing school, compared with 13 per cent of the most advantaged students.
These figures have increased for both groups since the pandemic, with 29 per cent of disadvantaged students reporting truancy in 2022 and 22 per cent of advantaged pupils.
“The increase in anglophone countries’ truancy rates shows that schools face a huge challenge in re-engaging students and addressing the underlying issues contributing to absences,” lead author Professor John Jerrim said.
“We can attribute the rise largely to girls skipping school more often since the pandemic. It is therefore crucial that we develop and implement targeted interventions to support students and help them stay engaged in their education.”
More than 200 schools were randomly selected in each country for the Pisa study, with around 40 students selected in each school. They were sent a questionnaire about their attendance.
The research comes after the latest government absence data revealed that Year 11 students were the most likely not to be in school out of all year groups, with a 10 per cent absence rate.
During exams season this year, Tes revealed that more than one in four senior leaders were more concerned about high absence among Year 11 students than in the previous year.
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