If you work in education, what do you think is causing the current attendance issues?

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I’ve read quite a lot on this recently. DD1 is 10, she’s always been reluctant to go to school. She had a spate of UTIs, stomach aches, headaches etc. She’s had a bit of time off sick but we only triggered the attendance letter recently as it went below a certain threshold. DH and I have always done our best to get her into school, being reassured that she’s ‘been fine all day’ by her teachers. It all came to a head this year (yr 5) after a complete meltdown, several anxiety attacks and refusal to leave the house. She’s now on a reduced timetable at school and on the waiting list for an ASD assessment.
Academically she’s ahead but just can’t seem to cope with the school environment.

I’m just wondering what those who work in education think the issues are. Am I just a terrible parent? Although I’m not sure what else I could do. I suspect a complete lack of funding in education has had the biggest impact on schools and students. Especially those with SEN.

It did take some time for us to get to the point where most DC were in school most of the time, however. There was resistance to the idea, kids in rural areas in particular were often taken out to help with the harvest well into the 20th century, and the social contract on schooling we'd managed to develop before the 2020s was hard won. It was evidently more fragile than some people realised.

Following just to read.

This

And I’m not surprised the closures had a big impact

In our Borough primary attendance is actually very good, but falls off a cliff in secondary. I suspect because parents working multiple minimum wage jobs need to get DC to school when they're little and the DC are left to get themselves there once they're older 😪

Most serious bullying starts in secondary though. I've lost count of the number of parents - myself included - who've had to pull their children out of secondary school due to bullying issues.

This is a really complex topic with so many aspects affecting it.

SEN Provision
There isn't the proper funding in education. There need to be more schools for special education and more with enhanced provision and well-funded, well-supported units. Some of the children currently being forced into mainstream settings cannot cope there, which has an impact on them, their families, the staff and the rest of the class. Even for those who can cope in mainstream, it's becoming so difficult to get help for them and almost impossible to hire support staff to aid in this.

Parents' ACEs
There are a lot of parents with their own adverse childhood experiences and these absolutely colour how they see their child's experience of school. Parents who struggled with school (academically, emotionally or socially) are more likely to keep their child at home if they think their child is experiencing something negative.

Pressures on the NHS
For a few children, the NHS backlog and the difficulty of getting appointments and treatments mean that they end up unwell for longer or get a lot worse in the meantime and have to take more time off school.

Pressures on schools
Some of the current expectations on schools are just ridiculous and needlessly high stakes. This creates a more highly-pressured system which absolutely can be felt by the children themselves, increasing their unwillingness to be there.

Retention and Recruitment Crisis
Whilst there are exceptions, there are a number of graduates who would make excellent teachers but they don't choose to go into it because the career just isn't attractive enough to them. You can add to that the lower levels of applicants and the constantly dropping standards for entry (and passing) teacher training. Then consider the level of experienced and competent people leaving the profession. Some children will genuinely be having a shit experience because they don't have the right (or any) teacher.

Ineffective parenting
There are some aspects that are the fault of the parents. Unfortunately, we don't do enough as a society to develop and refine the parenting skill, seeing commenting on parenting as a personal insult rather than having a culture of improvement. As such, there are just some ineffective parents out there who have been doing a shit job for years. That leads to poor attendance.

Importance of Education (parents' perspectives)
Whilst the majority do value education, there are some parents who just don't. They don't care if their kids do well, they don't care if they get qualifications and, to be honest, they don't care if they attend. There are some areas of really low aspiration where I have genuinely heard parents say things like: "Well I did shit at school and I'm fine so he doesn't need it."

But it’s this attitude that’s causing half the problems!

My daughter had debilitating anxiety, but was insistent on going to school. Eventually she was diagnosed ASD and developed burnout.

I think ND burnout is a big issue. We didn’t even know what it was. Teaching is so harsh these days. So much group and paired work or seating plans which cause huge anxiety amongs nd.

15 years ago they’d have been OK because schools weren’t the harsh environment they are now. Now they are told 100% this and that. There’s no downtime or space to think. This is what caused my DD’s burnout. And having her very high targets shoved down her throat all the time. Too much pressure and stress.

Schools need to be kinder, allow for down time, allow them to be calmer. Longer lunch and break times.

I'm sorry to hear about this. For all those suggesting they've been successful getting their children to school through strictness, that kind of talk is really unhelpful - if your child is able to get to school, you're probably not qualified to judge what's going on here.
OP - have a look at the Not Fine in School FB group and EBSA.

My youngest was 12 in lockdown and she got through her entire school schedule within 90 mines at home and was still ahead when school restarted. She resents school now as , in her words, 80% of the school day is taken up with teachers trying to sort out idiots that misbehave and disrupt the class. She says that if it wasn't for this, she and the others that want to learn, would be able to convince the actual learning into around 10-15 mines per lesson. Sure now HATES school and can't wait to get into college and uni where students actually seem to want to be there

I found Not Fine in School awful. It was just full of people blaming teachers for everything. I hated it. Despite the fact my dd wasn’t in school, l found that group even more depressing. Their hatred and misunderstanding of school staff was awful.

The majority of parents work though. Home education is a luxury. Teens need to mix not do on line learning. My ND teen couldn’t cope with it.

Not all schools use Victorian methods and the government is to blame for them not the parents.

Sit back and watch the MH crisis escalate as these anxious children retreat into home, plug themselves into devices, mainline tiktok and no longer get fresh air, social company or any contact with the outside world 😳

Society is shifting.

This is natural after a very stressful event like a pandemic

It happened after both world wars and the Spanish flu.

People realise the bad stuff is not worth it and want change.

It's happening in the workplace too.

Young people at my work will say if they are anxious or sick. They want and demand the support. They won't come in. It's only us oldies that come in when unwell. Maybe that's not a bad thing that youngsters are speaking out.

Work life balance is crap and society is starting to demand better.

Teens are not stupid. They see this too. UnI is too expensive and not worth it compared to salary potential anymore.

Takes a while but the political party's need to take notice.

Sit back and watch the MH crisis escalate as these anxious children retreat into home, plug themselves into devices, mainline tiktok and no longer get fresh air, social company or any contact with the outside world 😳

Sure but the point is they are becoming anxious while at school & then withdrawing. So being in social company & in school isn’t helping their anxiety either 🤷🏻‍♀️.

This.

I also find it interesting and revealing that attendance figures in London are MUCH higher than anywhere else in England and Wales. Outside London attendance figures are terrible.

Sorry meant to quote this.

1. Since the pandemic, children are getting ill more often and for linger than pre-pandemic. Is it because the NHS is broken? Is it because doctors are so reluctant these days to prescribe antibiotics? Is it long covid? Is it because parents are bullied into sending sick children to school to infect everyone else? Is it because we all travel so much more and meet more germs? Is it because climate change is creating more diseases? I don’t know. But I’m fed up of the government blaming parents for the nation’s decline in health.
2. Also children are more reluctant to go. They’ve all had experience of home learning and know that they don’t need to go to school to learn stuff.
3. School is much more stressful and much less safe than it was a generation ago. A child is raped at school every single day in Britain. Experienced teachers have mostly quit, to be replaced by bewildered newly qualifieds who can’t control the class.

Yep.

I'd also like to add in the huge numbers of teachers ( according to MN) who hate their jobs and hate being at work. No wonder children hate being at school.
And no, this isn't teacher bashing , it's a failing education system that has bashed teachers on the head for decades.

Fair enough, I found it a lifeline. Not all experiences are the same but the trouble is that blaming yourself can only take you so far in fixing what can be a pretty serious problem. Knowing that not all parents of school avoiders are feckless in-term-time holiday lovers can set you on the right track to finding a way back to some sort of education (which threatening letters definitely do not!).

I agree. Children's social experiences is school can be hideous, however if a child is pulled out of school, thought needs to be given to how the children will have friendships.

Home ed parents are always asked but what about socialization? - usually meaning but how will they socialise? .. And the parents roll their eyes because generally it involves lots of park days, museums, stem events, workshops, sporting activities, tutor groups, classes. Home schooling during COVID lockdowns was nothing like home education.

This picture of parents working from home while children learn online doesn't look like a healthy way to develop. It may provide some recovery time for children who have been badly bullied or struggled with other aspects of the school environment, however it doesn't allow children to learn to gradually flex their social muscles again in a more conducive environment.

Many reasons, but just a few here:
The school day is packed with no time to talk to the children and no time to just enjoy learning. The amount of times we would be really getting into a subject and the kids would be having the best time, but we’d have to stop and do handwriting etc. as I would get into trouble if someone from the MAT came round and we weren’t doing what was on the timetable taped to my door. Classrooms are noisy and overwhelming- especially for ch that got used to a quieter and more lonely existence during lockdown. We push the children constantly, and everything is delivered at break- neck speed. There is little to no opportunity to do things organically or creatively and cater to a class’s needs and interests as all classes in the same year group need to be doing the same thing at the same time when a visitor comes round. It’s crap for teachers and it’s even worse for kids.

Some posters might be interested in this article about chronic absenteeism in the US, with some stats from before and after covid.
https://www.vox.com/2024/1/9/23904542/chronic-absenteeism-school-attendance

As a teacher, and a parent, it is quite simply because the education system we have in the UK today doesn't fit what today's society actually needs.

We need a radical overhaul, to create a 21st century education system, rather than the 19th century one we're stuck with.

I linked a similar post-Covid article from Aus on another thread on attendance falling

Of course a major policy such as school closure is going to break the social contract

Horrendous needs going unmet, behaviour issues, unsafe classrooms, violence more common. It's becoming an environment that feels unsafe. In parts of the UK the curriculum is Play led, fantastic especially post covid but parents don't understand the approach and some children miss the structure and security of maths before break, language after, group learning etc. So many SEN in mainstream classes the support, if there is any goes there. This leaves some children again feeling they won't be helped.