The crisis in school attendance: Too many children and young people are missing out on school and we need to find answers.

300,000 children and young people are not attending school at all in England. That is almost 50% more than pre-pandemic. A record 140,000 missed half or more of school last year and 1.4 million missed at least 10% of school. To add to this crisis, almost one in three of these children and young people are living in poverty as measured by being able to have free school meals.

A significant proportion of a whole generation has seen their family attitude towards going to school move from attending school being an essential part of growing up, to one study finding that school doesn’t matter anymore. And other research talking of the broken relationship between school and families, particularly in communities where poverty is rife and as a result hope and aspirations are on the floor.

We need to act now to reverse this new widely held view of the value of school. Research has taken place to understand how we can find answers to the attendance crisis by the Centre for Young Lives with YMCA and Leeds Beckett University Carnegie School of Education funded by the National Citizenship Service and the Duke of Edinburgh Award. The research included conversations with a diverse range of children and young people from across England, and examined statistics and reports that may give clues as to how to get pupils back in school.

While school is seen as important by a majority of those that took part in the research, children and young people want it to be more than a place for learning essential subjects such as English, maths and science. They want activities such as sport, music, dance, art, etc, to have more time in the school day. Evidence suggests these activities have been squeezed out of the school day as schools focus upon examination results. They ask for more of a say into how they are taught in the classroom, so they feel part of the decision-making as opposed to being subjected to teaching. They also suggest more time could be provided for personal development and relationships. Many spoke of the issues they and their pupils face, like stress and anxiety and the challenges of growing up in the present cost of living crisis.

Broader research undertaken recently looking at parents and their attitude to school suggested that schools should work more closely with parents and carers and the wider community to rebuild the relationship by, for example extending the school day and allowing families to use their facilities at evenings and weekends so schools can once again part of the community. This is through broader engagement than the present situation, which places primary focus on exam results and Ofsted inspections.

In the longer term perhaps, we need to consider more deeply what we want our schools to be. A place focused purely upon outstanding teaching, which is very important, so pupils get the qualifications they need? Or is it a place for pupils to go to get qualifications, but also for wider learning to prepare them for life? Or is it a place for both of those purposes, but also one which engages with families and the community?