As pupils return from the holidays, it’s unlikely that we will see any immediate change to the current crisis around school attendance.

The latest figures show no return to pre-Covid levels of attendance. In fact, for secondary students, absence rates in the first half of the 2023 autumn term were actually higher than in the same period a year before.

Even more worrying, in the past academic year almost 40 per cent of disadvantaged pupils were persistently absent.

There are many theories about the cause of this crisis, but I’m tired of hearing explanations that focus solely on factors within the child and their family. Mental ill-health, poverty and the broken social contract with parents all play a part, but I think there is an elephant in the room here, particularly for disadvantaged pupils: the curriculum and school climate.

Tackling the school attendance crisis

Let’s look at the data. An Education Policy Institute (EPI) analysis and a report from FFT Education Datalab both found that the post-Covid widening in the absence gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers was mostly attributable to reasons other than ill-health - namely unauthorised absences, which have risen more sharply for those eligible for free school meals.

The EPI report also noted that there was a striking step change in absence for Year 8 students. Absence isn’t such a problem in Year 7, at the time of transition to secondary school. It’s a year later that the issue really kicks in. From then on, absence rates rise sharply, peaking in Year 11.

Why might this be? One effect of lockdowns, perhaps, was to accustom children, particularly of secondary age, to an all-day, phone-in-bedroom lifestyle, with which schools now have to compete.

We shouldn’t have to compete; going to school is the law. But if fines and court action aren’t working (and research shows that punitive approaches work for only a small percentage of families) then perhaps we have to try another tack. We must make school unmissable.

This suggests two questions that schools might ask themselves: is our curriculum engaging and relevant, particularly to those who are disadvantaged? And does our school climate foster a sense of belonging for all learners?

A curriculum that sings to all learners

Too many schools, driven by accountability pressures, offer a curriculum that simply pours knowledge into pupils on a teach-test-teach cycle. This curriculum is driven by exams that, from about Year 8 onwards, around one-third of students know they will not pass - the “forgotten third”. Is it surprising, then, that many students fail to attend regularly?

It is interesting that a recent cross-party report from the House of Lords Education for 11- 16-Year-Olds Committee recognised this engagement issue. It recommends reform of the secondary curriculum and assessment model, to provide more opportunities for students to study creative, cultural, vocational and technical subjects and to reduce the dominance of rote learning.

We do not necessarily have to wait for top-down reform, however. Some schools have already taken matters into their own hands. There are brilliant case studies of schools with curricula that are planned to be relevant to students’ interests, concerns and cultures; that are oracy-based and enable children to take control over their learning (see Ladybridge High School and Surrey Square Primary School). These schools make sure that every student has opportunities to demonstrate their particular talents and experience success.

This is important. A quote attributed to Einstein goes: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” This is the effect of our current education system on too many children.

A school climate that fosters a sense of belonging

My other suggested self-reflection for teachers and leaders is about connectedness, or belonging.

Today, I went to a class in my local town. It was raining and I was tired and busy, but when the register was taken, I was there. Why? Because this class is a discussion group that has run for some time; relationships have developed between the tutor and class, and between individual attendees. These people feel like my tribe - they have my back, they know and like me. I don’t want to miss the comfortable feeling that gives me.

This is what attending school potentially has to offer our young people. Seeing your mates is the one thing that can truly compete with the phone in the bedroom. So, if we want to crack the attendance problem, we need to plan ways of building a sense of belonging into tutor groups and subject lessons. I call it creating the “we”.

I’ve written more about this in my book Reaching the Unseen Children, but simple ideas for creating the “we” include class charters, class flags and emblems, collated identity portraits posted on the wall, structuring activities to ensure that everybody has a chance to work with everyone else over the year, and quick “this or that” paired discussion lesson starters (“YouTube or Netflix?”, “cats or dogs?”) that help students get to know those outside their friendship group.

Spheres of influence

As Tes editor Jon Severs pointed out in the Tes Daily newsletter towards the end of last term, tackling deep-seated family issues that may be contributing to persistent absence is difficult. It requires a multi-disciplinary approach, time and resources. So much of what needs to change lies outside schools’ ordinary sphere of influence.

It might, therefore, be more useful to focus our effort on what is clearly within our remit as educators. Building belonging and revisiting curriculum design fall into this category. They are part of our day job. They are within our power to change. So, worth a try, perhaps?

Jean Gross CBE is an independent consultant and author. She has written extensively about disadvantage