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

I confess I haven't read all 500+ responses. This and other stories have sweeping generalisations about the causes of lower attendance. But there isn't one reason, there are multiple reasons. Many/all referenced on this thread.

Some parents don't value education and can't be bothered to fight with a child to get them to school
Some parents want to pay less for their family holiday and so take their child out of school during term time
Some parents don't give a stuff about their kids and don't care where they are during the day as long as they aren't bothering them.

But also

Some parents have seen how poor the teaching is at their child's school e.g. during lockdowns and don't see that their child is missing out on much
Some parents have children at schools with RAAC/asbestos/other structural concerns and their children are on a rotated timetable and barely ever there anyway, thus diminishing the importance of actual attendance in their eyes
Some parents want to keep their child at home when they are mildly poorly as we were told to during Covid and their mindset hasn't changed even though the guidance has or work from home now so it's easier to look after a poorly child

But also

Some parents have children with high anxiety who cannot learn when they are in such a heightened state of stress and are simply too mentally unwell to learn even if they were in school and the school doesn't have the ideas/tools/resources to help them if they were in school
Some parents have children with additional needs whose needs aren't being met in school and the parents need to keep them at home for the child's wellbeing and would rather the child was at school e.g. so the parent could work, but the parent prioritises their child's wellbeing in a way the school doesn't have the ideas/tools/resources to
Some parents have children who have experienced trauma or have been traumatised at/by school and the parent cannot get the child into school without masking or coercion and the school doesn't have the ideas/tools/resources to cope/help.

So there isn't one simple reason, there are many reasons and coming down hard on parents isn't the solution to:

-low energy parents
-low income parents
-neglectful parents

-poor teaching/poor school management/education funding
-poor school building maintenance/low funding
-poor primary care availability

-poor mental health care availability
-poor SEND support and resoucing
-poor availability of trauma-informed support

But many of those solutions would require the government to do something e.g. increase funding in multiple area rather than put the blame onto parents.

There's a private school near us where the ratio of SEN was 50% a few years ago. Many of those children went onto university, colleges because of the dedication and expertise of the specialist teachers . Council funded in some cases because parents had fought for them.

Great summary @SaucepanRattle

Our politicians are so used to blaming and shaming and creating division/playing people off against each other, rather than coming up with solutions. And even when they do earmark extra funding it is often wasted on ineffective things.

Two of my kids are in college. Each college has spoken to them as individuals (no need for any sort of diagnosis) and they have slight adjustments. - one has a quiet space they can use if it gets a bit much the other who we thought might need more adjustment has a teacher he really looks up to who I guess he sees as more as a mentor and person who is there to help him, than as a teacher. He is thriving with that dynamic. Perhaps it takes a certain person to get that sort of relationship right and maybe most tutors don't have that personality.

I don't understand why schools need to enforce a uniform but kids can attend college in their own clothes 6 weeks after leaving school and somehow it just works and there aren't the problems we are told will happen in schools if uniforms aren't strongly enforced.

Maybe we need to look at what is working at college age for some ideas about what might work they school.

John Taylor Gatto had some interesting ideas and the freedom to run with them while teaching in New York. Peter Gray and Naomi Fisher also have a lot that I feel is worth listening to about how to help young people feel fulfilled throughout their education.

She only has one now because I'm an educated middle class mum who speaks bureaucracy, got her an EHCP and kicked up one hell of a fuss. For parents who can't or don't do that their kids are simply failed because local authorities don't have the money to fund proper provision.

This is true for my DD too, who is now in a specialist provision but I’m well educated, a specialist in her particular area of need and had the time and energy to argue her case, repeatedly. Parents shouldn’t need expert level knowledge to get their kids needs met - the educators, specialists etc should be putting things in place for every child. But of course that would cost more money, spent on children who aren’t likely to be setting the world alight, so it doesn’t happen.

If you’re a parent who doesn’t have the knowledge, capacity or time to really engage in the process, or you don’t know what the process is and how to stand your ground, or you can’t afford the costs of appeals, legal support etc you’ve next to no chance. The government knows this, because it creates and sustains the system while simultaneously reducing funding and resources. We should be rioting in the streets.

And me. Post grad and 2 degrees between us. I speak bureacracy too. Got full PIP for her on first application too.

Its a middle class educated system set up by middle class educated people that only the educated middle class can access them.

Its a disgrace.

@withthischoice Covid is now, check out the WHO advice. And look up Long Covid as well.

This x1000

It strikes me from reading all these comments that we’ve got it wrong. The secondary education system in particular and lack of investment in schools and teacher retention (let alone recruitment), large classes/schools are failing our children.
An idea: schools could switch to being pastoral learning hubs offering care, support, sports, life education (critical thinking, research skills, gardening, domestic skills, finance, an understanding of the political and economic system etc as well as access to all subject teachers to help with queries.
Possibly even on a hybrid scheme - as many workplaces do - whereby children can also acceptably learn at home. I’m not suggesting this should be done by already overstretched and underpaid teachers but perhaps by setting up a reputable, national online school. I’m already laughing at the idea of a non-punitive, forward-thinking, innovative government prepared to fund that!
I’m sure many will criticise but my feeling (as a teacher and parent) is that times have changed. When knowledge was only in books you had to go to them (and to school/university) to learn. But knowledge is online now so is accessible to all wherever you are.
Interested to hear what others think - preferably without rudeness lowering the tone of the debate.

sorry but they are completely right. Over a year during the pandemic spent telling kids and parents that school wasn't that important. Unions used covid as leverage and now the kids are suffering.

I fully agree with strike days, they are done to ensure that teachers are fairly paid and have proper working conditions and workloads as so many have left education because of the impact on their mental health, myself included.
However this too should apply to students, they need a a comfortable safe environment to learn in, not having their mental health affected and not the current system of running schools (particularly high schools) like a militant dictatorship akin to North Korea. So many things occur in schools that we would never except as an adult in any other workplace. Because of this, my daughter has had some days off due to anxiety and mental health and I will continue to do so as and when I feel it is necessary. She started school and went through primary exceeding at every level but since moving to high school, with the way they are treated and spoken to, she has lost all enthusiasm for learning and often has panic attacks about going in. I had the same at high school and have always dreaded the day she was due to start and it appears nothing has changed in the 20 years since I finished high school. There needs to be a massive culture change across schools which would then see better attendance.

The unions were completely ignored during Covid. So please don't start pushing that BS around.

The Government have no intention to properly tackle absenteeism amongst vulnerable children and young people. If they did they'd be doing something about child poverty but they're not. Much easier to blame it on people taking their kids of school or being too lazy to walk their kids in. No doubt they'll continue down the punitive route, create further income streams and do fuck all to help those that need it.

My friend fought for three years to get her son specialist education at a private school. So many forms, meetings. A careless remark at the final meeting cost her 6k a year which granny is paying thank god. The education authority had to pay £20k a year at age 11. He blossomed got GCSES and A levels. Now at university.

I don't know if this is possible now

But knowledge is online now so is accessible to all wherever you are.

We did it during lockdown, and children failed to engage in large numbers.

I don't think people appreciate just how much work goes on in schools to get the kids to do the work. Some pupils will log in and crack on, but a lot won't.

Parents during lockdown complained that they couldn't get their kid to work unless they were stood over them - yeah, it's the same at school except we have better systems in place.

Our local technical college which until around 15 years ago offered vocational courses for apprentices in construction, engineering, car mechanics, hair dressing, beauty, nursing , catering etc. got a new head.

He turned around determined to get university status so kicked out most of these valuable stepping stones for less academic students. Guess what he never achieved university status and destroyed a bloody good technical college.

Exactly. This is why people are fuming 3 years on - money for shit PPE that got stockpiled and burned, no money for the kids at school. Figures.

Whilst I understand, to a degree, all the arguments put forward here about COVID and strikes, etc.

If you have a child that won’t go to school, what will happen long term about the possibility of them having a job and becoming a full functioning adult?

Genuine question.

@NotVWoolf I think part of the problem is schools, and by default teachers, are already expected to fill in too many gaps. Instead of using their expertise to teach they’re expected to be a jack of all trades and master of none. A move towards having schools educate children with appropriate specialties being brought in to offer counselling, deal with safeguarding issues, work with kids who have additional support needs, provide practical family support where needed would go a long way to resolving many of the issues in schools.

Teachers then could use their expertise, creativity and to revitalise the curriculum and do what they do best - engage children in learning, whatever the subject matter may be. While information may be available online there is absolutely no substitute for an engaged teacher enthusiastically sharing their knowledge and passion. We need to make it possible for teachers to do that and let other specialist professionals do their jobs.

Every day is not important. Some of the nonsense they teach these kids or days wasted watching ridiculous films about jesus. We never have ridiculous late nights and then say stuff it. But if my child needs a reset / break, he is getting one.

I love how parent blaming is the new approach. The same is happening with the NHS with the increase in ridiculous diagnosees like FND rather than actually identifying the real problem people need real treatment for.

My son is SEN, it's blindingly obvious. The school failed to provide any evidence, assessment requests denied, forced to pay £2k to assess and diagnose privately. Where is the support these kids need to actually thrive and want to go to school? Let's blame parents instead. I hate what this country is becoming.

Yes, I think people who weren't in schools around that time didn't really get it? The half term started basically fine, and by March we had so many people isolating, the school was already closed to KS3. If the government hadn't announced school closures at that time, we would have closed anyway.

And to be honest, January 2021 was similar- So many schools around me had full or partial closures in the prior half term, so many people got sick over Christmas, I'm not sure we would have opened anyway!

The choice was between planned school closures and adhoc ones, not schools closed vs open.

I think it's not just lockdowns, but children having weeks off at a time due to isolation rules etc that meant covid has really contributed to reduced attendance- students just aren't in the habit of attending school regularly all term- and this idea you can "work from home". I still have students who email me because they're off sick but would like "home learning" sent home! This definitely created the idea that there's no real value to being in the classroom vs reading from a powerpoint at home.

FWIW I totally agree that the state of CAMHS/NHS/SEN support is huge too.

Have you seen how many people are still ill with covid or dying with covid?

Covid hasn’t disappeared. It still making people, children and teenagers ill.
And that’s a huge issue because telling parents it’s their fault children aren’t at school when they are ill is Crap to say the least. Even more so when they caught said illness at schools (the two big spreaders of Covid are schools and hospitals).

You can’t tackle attendance in schools Wo talking about covid.
No more than you can tackle the number of sick days at work or the number if people not working due to illness without talking about covid.

Time to get real instead of living in La-la land where Covid doesn’t exist and doesn’t have any current impact on our lives.

I disagree hugely actually. When I was on strike, I planned around it and the whole class had the same experience. I made a plan to ensure all the content was still covered.

FWIW, I think a few days here and there probably don't make a difference. However, I've got a Y11 this year who's taken nearly 4 weeks off around Christmas. The amount she is missing is massive, and although she will do some work whilst on holiday, she will miss all the practical work we are doing, and miss out on questioning/feedback that other students are getting.

I've also got a Y12 BTEC student who's missed nearly a week after the Christmas break, again due to a family holiday. He's got exams this month! Other students in the class have sat a mock and received feedback on that mock. It's very different to a strike day!

The difference with term time holidays compared to the situations you describe is the rest of the class is still in school, learning- whereas the student who is missing isn't getting the same experiences.

I think there are times when you can get away with a holiday, but also times you definitely can't!

lol and next time, I’ll be more careful to realise the thread is now 500+ posts on. 😂😂

Unless they are then homeschooled instead… it’s crap.
I think we all agree on that.

And the only thing you can do is find out WHY the child refuses to go to school. It could be bullying, MH, illness incl long term illness, ND etcetc
Very much the same issues than before (because let’s be honest, I doubt that the strikes or school closures with Covid are the reason for the increase in ‘sick days’ at school). But probably heightened (more illnesses since covid, more stress and MH issues. Col crisis hasn’t helped etc….)

Im really down at the idea that NEITHER party are ready to look at what’s going on rand prefer instead to blame parents. I suppose it’s easier….