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.

Pressure to achieve. Feeling of failure if you are not a high achiever. Dull lessons aimed at results. Excessive exam prep. Compulsory after school sessions for GCSE. Dull curriculum choice. The bloody anthology poetry. Narrow curriculum. Lack of creativity ... I could go on

My parents both late 50s always used to “bunk” off of school, then I was in school in the 90s/2000 and all of my friends used to take long, term time holidays. I can’t believe that the children of today have poor attendance in comparison, I just think they’ve moved the goal posts. They are much more strict on attendance now than I can ever remember and it’s just not achievable. My children, at some point, have both fallen under the attendance target set I assume by the gov and they’ve only taken time off for temperatures and actually being sick.

Actually @Naptrappedmummy just clocked it wasn't you who made the initial point, apologies for confusing you.

At our school attendance drops September, December, June and July. A lot more people taking term time holidays.

Attendance has become a big deal in the last twenty years or so and more specifically the last ten. I think part of it is there's less flexibility with time off school.

Someone asked upthread what was happening in other countries. Australia experiencing the same issues - though bear in mind education is run by individual states and territories.

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp2223/SchoolRefusal#:~:text=Attendance%20tends%20to%20vary%20across,82.9%25%20for%20Year%2010%20students

I've been retired for two years, but still know a good number of working teachers in secondary.
Support for students with special needs is very patchy in Victoria. The qualification bar for support kept getting raised in my time. Parents are now going through NDIS - the national disability support scheme, as it's easier to get support via that than through schools. Unsurprisingly the government is looking to change that. And not in a good way.
Funding of government schools is a disgrace.
Taking term-time holidays has always been a thing, so not the big deal it is in the UK. It also means central government can't attach fines to term-time holidays, etc.
There's a significant issue with remote area schools, as you might imagine.
Big issue with teacher recruitment and retention so possible instability?
No inspection regime at all, BUT Victorian schools have increasing levels of paperwork, likely to be the same elsewhere.
Friends reported significant behaviour issues post-lockdown, still working their way through.
Overstuffed curriculum which, amazingly is less stuffed than the UK one, and yes, the government would like to be like the UK.

For me several differences leap out:

Term-time holidays - meh
Attendance target regime by government - it becomes all they look at
Insane application of uniform rules just don't happen. The uniform is mad and expensive but anecdotally humanely applied

Agree that the pointless, petty enforcement of uniform rules is demoralising for parents and children (am a teacher, and I could give two shits about logos/sock colour). There is a narrative in education that 'we sweat the small stuff' leads to better behaviour. I have no idea if this is backed up by evidence, but I think there are lots of Heads who are floundering and have latched onto Edu-celebs (on Twitter) who spout this as gospel and have adopted it in place of thinking for themselves.

For a kid who has profound additional needs, we are officially allowed to 'accommodate' uniform violations (top button undone, for example). For a kid living in dire poverty, they get penalised (more than they are by being hungry and under dressed for the weather). WTAF?

Primary is dull and data/SATS - driven. Secondary is hanging on by a thread and the gaps are telling.

Yes, there are some lazy arse parents, quite a few, who don't care. Why don't they care? There must be a reason they don't see the value in school.

Agree

The social side isn’t there anymore. Breaks are too short to make any proper friends.

I always thought it was strange that every child has to grow up in rooms full of children their own age. It’s just asking for peer pressure, competition and crap self-esteem.

Yes, there are some lazy arse parents, quite a few, who don't care. Why don't they care? There must be a reason they don't see the value in school

Because you no longer need to work to live. Education is therefore optional, not a valued path out of poverty and starvation.

My friends son says he doesn't want to go because he doesn't want to get a job/basically doesn't see it as worth it.

@CarAccident complete rubbish! I WFH and my DD is always in school on time, has never missed a day (apart from one sickness bug last year), and she goes to after school club where needs be if I’m very busy…I couldn’t have her here while working. Its this kind of attitude (also peddled by the daily mail) that gives WFH such a bad rep when actually a lot of parents (mainly women) need the flexibility…

Interesting about Australia.

Not in education - but poor behavior and noise and losing teachers - experience ones leaving and new one not staying - and weak SLT and then draconian petty rules enforcement of rules for a while then nothing - are making it a hard environment for DD2 to stay in school.

So far got her in every day - and she is trying hard to stay in lessons with some aids we've bought her. 18 months left - I think she'll cope better in college environment as our older children have.

Yy interesting to hear what's going on in Australia. Anecdotally I'd heard persistent absence has increased in some areas of the US that had closures too, but don't have stats to hand.

My DD wants to go because she is sociable and wants to succeed in life. Unfortunately she has ASD with a high level of anxiety. Diagnosed at 8 with an EHCP. She is falling apart in year 11. Since the first of three sets of mocks she has started vomiting regularly and is a nervous wreck. Constantly catching colds and feeling ill every day. Her teachers are great but SLT are telling them all on a daily basis they will fail at life without high GCSEs. Thank you MAT you utter bastards.

I tried to speak to the GP about the vomiting and high anxiety. I got a text telling me to go via the school for MH issues. The school told DD ‘lots of girls are feeling like you this year’. Then there are the petty uniform rules and meaningless detentions already mentioned.

In contrast my big standard mixed catchment (Cornish small town) there was much less pressure. You worked reasonably hard and did your best and that was fine. Uniform was very relaxed. Navy blue with light blue shirt and school tie. Ties were worn any way we wanted and skirts were various lengths and styles. No blazers. I still somehow got a degree and a professional qualification.

Behaviour. A lot of the children hate having to deal with other aggressive, vile kids who can't be properly disciplined like they used to be. And no, they;re not all SEN - most of the vile kids have parents who don't give a shit/think their lttle darlings can do no wrong/come flying down the school to moan and complain if little violent Jimmy gets even a hint of a punishments. The "good" kids aka quiet, polite, try to get on with their work kids, are used as seat mates to the horrid kids and therefor they themselves then have to put up with the vile behaviour, can't concentrate on their own work, get shoved, kicked, coughed on etc....

DIng ding ding, we have a correct answer!

If we're talking about incentives, breaking the link between working to qualify in roles that require more training and being able to have a decent standard of living plus security won't help. Nor will the greater debt burdens that young people are expected to take on if they want to obtain anything above further education.

Training to be, say, a nurse is a much less attractive proposition if you've to go into five figures of debt to do it and your wage won't afford you any security in large parts of the country afterwards.

Telling them things that we want them to know.

I think it goes further back than the Victorians tbh.

One thing I think contributes but isn't the whole story is the amount of importance given to children's feelings. The 'you don't need to worry about that- just leave it to an adult' has totally gone in all ways. Every rule, every decision, every little thing has to be fully justified and explained. Teenagers have too much perceived power at times, and they find it hard to handle.
Parents are scared of missing or dropping the ball on mental health- so they don't push or challenge normal emotions at all- it launches straight to worse case scenario. Parents are also unwilling to understand that their child is PART of the world and not the centre of it. I've been teaching for 25 years and never known it to be so full of parental complaints. Even the most basic of things (a sanction of 1 demerit for being late to a lesson) can trigger a parent email about how it's unfair etc etc. There is no sense of a firm boundary anymore. What we are trying to get across to parents is that once they leave school, the crash into the firm boundary will be higher stakes, and much much worse.
The fact that on here, we can't discuss in general terms- without someone coming on with a CLEARLY very specific and therefore irrelevant case- in an attempt to 'top trump' and shut down conversation.

Look up ebsa and ebsa guidance

What should they be learning instead?

I think they should be discovering them for themselves on some ocean of self discovery, bookworm

It's a good job we weren't left to discover for ourselves when I was at school. I would have learned bugger all if not forced. I hated school from the day I started primary until the day I left grammar (born in the 1950's). I just wanted to be out on my bike with my dog and helping granddad with the animals on the farm.

As a grown up I am grateful I had learning forced on me by my parents and my schools.

This. I have two teenage girl at high school both of them daily complain of constant noise, shouting, kids throwing things in the classroom and not challenged by teachers or removed, they can’t hear the teacher, can’t learn and are so fed up,I went to high school in the 90s this would never have been allowed to happen and we had plenty ‘characters’ in the class, they were just dealt with properly. My girls have called me scared several times with what they have witnessed in their class and felt unsafe