Parents to be asked to solve school attendance crisis

[noblegiraffe]

There is an article in the Times about the current school attendance crisis. It cannot be overstated how awful the attendance crisis is. Pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils, are staying away from school in much larger numbers, and for more days than before covid.

It says that lockdowns broke the contract between parents and schools which said that school attendance was compulsory.

It blames parents for keeping their children home when they have a minor illness or are slightly anxious about school.

It quotes Bridget Phillipson, Shadow Education Secretary as saying "If I were secretary of state, I’d be sending a very clear message to parents that every day at school matters, and that irresponsible parents who don’t care about sending their kids to school are harming other kids’ life chances, not just their own"

(Whereas current Education Secretary Gillian) "Keegan will expand a programme that gives children skipping school an attendance mentor who could drive or walk youngsters from their home to school in the morning or negotiate with head teachers on their behalf. She said: “Persistent absence is a hangover from the pandemic affecting schools around the world. Schools and the government cannot do this alone.

“Families play a big part in attendance and parents have a legal duty to make sure their children are at school. I know it can be hard to get children out of the door, especially when they are feeling a bit anxious or have a mild cough or cold, so we must rebuild the social contract between parents and schools and make sure everyone plays their part.”

While lockdowns are brought up, what is not mentioned is the utter state schools were in between lockdowns and after lockdowns. Children were being supervised in halls rather than being taught due to lack of teachers who were ill (and this is still happening now due to inability to recruit). Lack of teachers meaning that kids get endless cover which can be largely a waste of time. Children who are anxious about attending school are expected to get on with it while teachers who are unable to cope with the poor behaviour of students are signed off with stress. The experience of children in schools during and since covid can be extraordinarily shit.

Attendance is much lower in pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Child poverty is not mentioned - I was reading about a child who couldn't attend school because her mother needed to use the one pair of shoes they shared. Other children are needed to look after younger siblings while parents work because they can't afford childcare. How will this be solved by sending a car around?

But we also know that schools in disadvantaged areas are more likely to struggle to hire staff. What is the point in a child attending school when they don't have teachers? How will Keegan and Phillipson argue that one?

This bit is the most worrying:

"A Labour government, Phillipson said, would place more emphasis on absenteeism as part of the Ofsted inspection framework, with schools compelled to produce an annual report on attendance, off-rolling (removing a pupil without using a permanent exclusion) and safeguarding. Schools are required to submit weekly attendance records to the Department for Education but absenteeism does not have its own Ofsted criteria, instead falling under a broader category of “behaviour and attitudes”.
These reports would affect the Ofsted rating given to schools, which would also take into account the progress they have made in shrinking the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their more affluent peers"

Linking an Ofsted grading to attendance will just doom schools in disadvantaged areas to low Ofsted grades at a time when Ofsted had just started to recognise that grading a school based on disadvantage was a bad idea.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/1d7eb40d-c4c4-4dcc-85ea-ad6f62c65b9c?shareToken=6c4b865c0c1b8626f2761a5ad733b608

If so it was profoundly tone deaf and showed no awareness for the fact some children had both parents working extremely hard who had to deliver vital public services and couldn't do lots of baking with their children.

My child was diagnosed with autism last year (private, as CAMHS is 3 year wait list - it was 6 months before they even got in contact, 12 months before sending the screening assessments). Her anxiety was bad as soon as she transitioned to secondary school, going back after lockdowns just got harder and harder. She is intelligent but the large school environment, with multiple transitions every day, sensory overload, and so much pressure was just too much - she said she wanted to kill herself.

And despite this, her school just said "she's fine in school", "you have to get her in". And I tried, I really did. I got her up, dressed and drove her to that building every day for three weeks. Watched her have a panic attack in reception. Took her back home again. Sat with her every night as she cried and begged me not to make her go to school. Watched her stop eating because she was too anxious. Called every number I could find on the council's Local Offer page for help. Completed form after form. Got repeatedly told I was on the waitlist for support but there was a lot of demand for the services, it would be 6, 7, 8 or more months before she'd be seen.

So absolutely I stopped sending her. I got the GP letters they demanded. I asked for their help in telling me what was being studied so she could do some work from home; they told me they couldn't do that. I wrote to the LA demanding alternative education provision. I got told demand for this service was higher than they could support, and it was six months before we got offered anything, by which point she'd lost most of year 10.

I don't believe for one second that 25% of parents in this country are wilfully keeping their children off school for the hell of it. Yes there's truancy. But there's also unsupported poverty, where parents simply can't afford the uniform, books, transport which will have increased in the last 18 months. And unsupported SEN and SEMH needs with chronic underfunding.

Government needs to stop bleating that children need to be in school, when the truth is they need an education appropriate to their ability. The sooner we start to create environments that support that, the better.

I was working full time covering remote teaching while trying to look after my toddler and homeschool my older child. I was only a 2 days a week teacher at the time.

Of course I wrote to my class saying I was enjoying playing in the garden.

So what can be deduced from this thread, conversations I’ve had with friends, other conversations happening online

the current school system does not work, for teachers, for students, for parents and even for the government.

yet we blindly continue pushing with the status quo. That’s why I’ve no respect or admiration for or investment in my children’s school. It’s a shitshow and we can all see it.

@forcedfun i’ve agreed with every one of your posts 👏

One of mine was a school refuser, it was bad before Covid and Covid finished it off, due to severe MH issues. We went to CAHMS three times and got shown the door three times (referrals) before eventually they got in (not that it was great when we got there but at least it 'proved' there was an issue beyond my control).

I tried everything, bribes, encouragement, sternness, driving them there (refused to exit car), we did parent/teacher meetings, the whole lot. No effect, they dropped out aged 15.

I have managed to get them back into education at a local college, although attendance is still an issue, due to MH issues (not minor anxiety on seeing a school building, ongoing psychiatric issues).

The lack of support for 2 or 3 years led the whole situation to spiral. I totally agree with the person on page one who said this is a symptom of a MH crisis which is not being dealt with in the NHS/local authority, coupled with the neglect of SEND for the same reason. Until there's funding and sensible structures and alternative provision (it was agreed for my child in Covid and they just said there's no tutors left you can't have one) and treatment for the most severe cases, then there's just a pile up of kids refusing to go in classrooms and desperate parents.

Those who don't want to bother aren't worried by the government's pronouncements anyway, what they are doing is already illegal and they can be fined so if that doesn't deter them, moral pressure will do nothing, and all it does is place intolerable burdens on the good parents doing their best with little or no support.

And when those children see their parents working hard and grieving relatives ?

There was no direct contact at all at any point to find out how my children were coping.

These speeches that include 'every day at school matters' always seem really silly and demeaning to children and parents. Loads of home educated children have never spent one day at school and they are learning all the time. I remember having so many cover teachers in secondary school that me and my sisters just bought the text books and learnt independently because the classes were interrupting our learning! Kids have intrinsic curiousity and a hunger to learn and school does dampen it for lots of them.

I think the trust between most schools and parents have broken down irrevocably.

primary schools should not have closed for (at least) the lower socioeconomic groups during lockdown. The key reason Sweden kept primary schools open was that they didn’t want to risk children from abusive households, children with non-Swedish speaking parents and the most vulnerable children in society to be absent from school. There was a fear that those children never would catch up. There was no such concern here.

behaviour of all children is awful post Covid especially. The teaching is either inadequate or not possible to be accessed for behavioural reasons.

there are strikes from teachers, strikes on the tube.

I have given up. I send mine in but I have also bought all relevant books. DD does 1.5 hours extra with me every evening and 3- 4 hours per day with me every day in the weekend/holidays. This is a mixture of maths, English and Science. I expect to add history, geography, French etc to this as she gets older.

i am exhausted but she is now excelling in school (towards top of the class) from having been at the bottom. If she is sick, I will keep her home. If I ever will afford to go on holiday, I will take her out. I feel like I am done with the school system.

And some children didn't,
You seem extremely hurt that your child's school didn't personalise everything to your needs.

You categorically do not need a formal diagnosis to apply for or obtain an EHCP. They're needs led, not diagnosis led. This is set in law, regardless of what your local authority or school tell you.

Have a read of the IPSEA website, lots of guidance on there.

I used to think like that.

Then my dd was diagnosed ASD at 16. She refused to go to school any more at 17. She wanted to but couldn’t.

Ive shown my responsibility by fighting for and getting an EHCp in 8 months. Applying for that was like writing a post grad thesis.

If only it was as easy as your narrow minded view portrays.

The more schools are held responsible for attendance and children’s mental health (ie suggestions that those are added to Ofsted’s criteria), the worse things will be, not better, unless funding is attached to it.

Things can’t be changed just because Ofsted decide to somehow measure it. Lots of children (my own included) said that they hate school because the pressure made them feel ill, the content was way too much to be able to understand let alone memorise, the exam system involves memorising mark schemes as a tick box exercise, rather than actually understanding the topics. There aren’t enough qualified and consistent teachers and if they have any sort of additional need which requires referrals/appointments elsewhere, these either don’t happen, take years or do happen and then they’re penalised for being off.

Adding ‘attendance’ or ‘mental health’ as another stick to beat teachers with will lead to even more of them leaving-who would want to be the lead of either of those as an unpaid extra that you have no time or funding to access to improve it, but will be held responsible when it inevitably is found wanting. Just forcing people to be in a place they already hate, more of the time, really won’t make things any better.

This thread is about why the contract is broken. I am explaining one of the reasons why.

I was lucky (comparatively) I can and could afford to pay for tutors, for instance.

But if people want to know why the contract is broken then they need to listen to the stories from people who are explaining why.

Exactly! I was disgusted with the Labour woman this morning. I am not voting Tory but this is disgusting blaming parents.

I have been through hell with my daughter and she is spouting this uneducated rubbish.

Your LA, in law, is required to provide alternate educational provision whilst your child is out of school. It's also their job to find a school that can meet your child's needs if the current one cannot. They need to be sending out the EHCP for consultations to other schools. They can't just shrug.

I get a sense that the government and the media outlets reporting on this issue, is not really addressing the full facts. The coverage is effectively causing a divide between parents and teaching staff.

So many factors are involved; underfunding of education and support services, staff retention and recruitment levels low, impacting on all children especially those with additional needs or education plans, effects of ineffective government handling of education guidance during the start of the pandemic with information and guidance sent to schools ridiculously late, and families with vulnerable members understandably concerned about the unchecked transmission of a new virus in schools, whilst being told they were being 'overly anxious' to name a few.

I'd like to see the data and evidence of attendance figures broken down to see what is so concerning, rather than relying on media coverage, which is so devisive. It would help me to understand the real issue, and not rely on politicians views that could be made with the intention of getting their party onto Government. I acknowledge this is hard as every school and region will have different issues, therefore may need to be tackled at regional level. One size does not fit all.

Knowing he percentage of children persistently absent, and reasons why would be informative.

I'd also question, why if absenteeism is of such a concern,is the fact that COVID is one of many airborne viruses that could be mitigated against i.e. by improving schools air quality, is not even discussed? Many teachers have become ill or left teaching because of illness. We know COVID is easily transmitted and can cause vascular and neurological issues, and can be disabling to those acquiring repeated infections.

The whole system needs an overhaul, and priorities in the best interest of our children need to be identified.

Employing welfare offices and blaming parents isn't addressing the issues, or tackling them. It's a diversion and does nothing to actually improve the education of our children.

My daughter no longer attends school because the school did such a crap job of supporting her (autism).
Her reception teacher missed chunks of school to go on holiday & also Glastonbury?! But we were told that DD missing morning sessions (we had a nightmare getting her in) was going to make her really behind. Also constantly being told in newsletter that children mustn’t go on holiday in term time. It just all seemed hypocritical. Then when we couldn’t get her in to school the school seemed more worried about her hair (she wouldn’t let us brush it). Priorities just seemed all wrong! The school only took it seriously when we told them we were going to stop trying to force her in & suddenly had all these ideas to support her. Too late unfortunately.

I agree with them, parents do need to take more responsibility for their children’s education.I am seeing a huge increase in an attitude that parents have that it is the schools problem and the schools rules that are the issue rather than the child’s home life.as parents you have a responsibility to raise functioning adults and this starts at home

You teach? And come out with utter shit like this?!

I mean absolutely, parents can be a pain. And there is an increase in general beligerence, a lack of manners and an increase in the threats of violence made against schools as a whole and teachers as individuals.

But fucking hell, not every child that is struggling with school for social reasons, mental health issues, physical health issues, school refusal or anything else has a parent standing behind them who doesn't give a toss.

Schools are part of the problem - younger and younger teachers with no experience whatsoever on SLT, high turn over of staff, many teachers getting QTS who even 10 years ago wouldn't have, high levels of supply staff, staff going off sick, redundancy and reduction of support staff......need I go on? And who's to blame for this? The government and their reduced to the bare bones budgets. Fund schools properly, fund health services properly, fund social services and social care properly and hey presto, kids will be back in school.

Agreed. But if they don't do it then what happens? My MP has taken up the case, but what should happen and what is actually happening are two separate things! My son's case worker says she has 400 children on her books, many out of school for as long as my DS, and she can't even estimate when he will come to the top of the pile.

I agree with them, parents do need to take more responsibility for their children’s education.

It's ridiculous to make a blanket statement like that though. Some parents keep kids off school for very valid reasons, some for very poor or non-existent reasons. Berating parents en masse for their lack of responsibility is extremely unhelpful.

And the state SEN schools are all full, but he does have an offer from a private SEN school. They obviously don't want to pay, but they don't have any other suggestions either. So at home he stays.

I was a HR Director in a school and teachers continuously took sick leave. Can’t really see how a teacher can be expected to encourage attendance when they are off sick. No leg to stand on really.

This isn’t teacher bashing, I don’t think people should go to work while sick, it spreads infection and also, people should look after their health and well-being. However, why do we expect children to go in while sick? Why are we telling them there are different rules for them and teachers (or adults generally).

Why are we telling them there are different rules for them and teachers (or adults generally).

Because Ofsted judge schools on the attendance figures of pupils.

Those parents who agree that the parent-school contract has broken down and they will therefore be taking their kids out of school as and when they like - what do you think can be done to fix this?

I think first of all the government needs to look at the reasons for absence before deciding parents are keeping kids home as and when they like. Acknowledging the impact of non-existent assessment processes for neurodiversity, very poor mental health pathways and the over management of education. Also acknowledging that the decision to close schools had a catastrophic impact on some children and their families - regardless of how necessary closures may have been.

Schools and teachers need to be more trauma aware, be much more flexible in how they support children who are struggling in school. My DD managed to stay in primary school purely due to the efforts of her HT and class teacher to adjust the school day to her needs. Not much attention to her attainment however, apparently keeping her in school and educating her was too tricky.

I think parents are worn out trying to navigate a system that simply doesn’t work for children, it’s certainly not child centred in planning or execution. School has become something for too many kids to survive, certainly not somewhere to thrive. Some of that is about government policy and mindset, but some of that is also about some teachers attitudes towards children.

The “contract” between the government and parents is, in my view, utterly broken - only part of that sits with Covid.

@Sallyh87 if staff were repeatedly absent why?
Were the causes actually looked at and addressed?