- By Nathan Standley
- ` News
48 minutes ago
image source, Getty Images
More sport in schools and investment in youth clubs are needed to reduce the number of children who regularly miss school, according to a new report.
According to the Center for Social Justice (CSJ) report, some parents think children don't need to attend school full-time.
The Department for Education (DfE) says parents have a duty to ensure their child goes to school.
Before the corona pandemic, significantly fewer students – just over one in ten – were permanently absent.
Students are persistently absent when they miss 10% or more of their school days, which is approximately one or more days every two weeks during the school year.
In the 2022/23 school year, DfE figures suggest that 22.3% of pupils in England were persistently absent – 17.2% in primary schools and 28.3% in secondary schools – around double pre-pandemic levels.
The report from think tank CSJ says tackling the attendance crisis requires multiple solutions, primarily focused on parental engagement.
The report included a survey of 1,200 parents that showed about one in four say the pandemic has shown that it is not essential for children to go to school every day.
CSJ chief executive Andy Cook said the Covid lockdowns had broken the “contract of trust” between schools and parents.
“The consequences of so many children missing school so often will only lead to unfulfilling lives, fragmented communities and skyrocketing costs for taxpayers to pick up the pieces,” he said.
The think tank's report says physical activity is key to helping children stay engaged in their education.
It calls for the introduction of a “right to sport” to ensure that every child has access to at least five hours of extra-curricular activities per week.
The CSJ's recommendations also include extending mental health support to all schools and rapidly expanding an existing government-funded mentoring project.
Mr Cook said “treating parents like criminals” for not taking their children to school every day was “not the answer”.
Ofsted's new chief inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said regular absences from class had a negative impact on both teachers and students.
“Teaching is an incredibly difficult task, and it becomes even more difficult when you have a class of 30 students and five are absent one day and five are absent another day. This will be very disruptive to not only that child's learning, but all the children in that class,” he said.
A DfE spokesman said regular attendance was “vital” to children's education, pointing to the trained mentors who already work with families of children who are consistently absent from school.
“Through our attendance centers we also provide vital support to schools serving 400,000 students, and our Attendance Action Alliance helps provide practical support to schools to further increase school attendance,” they added.
Comments are closed.