School refusal and persistent absenteeism.

 What is it, what causes it, and what is the solution? 

Persistent absenteeism from school is defined as attendance below 90%, and it has been on the rise since Covid emerged in 2019. Last month, the DFE reported that the PA rate for the 2023-24 academic year was 20%, which is double the PA rate in 2019, the year before Covid caused global disruption.

Severe absenteeism is characterised by school attendance below 50%, and this too is increasing, rising from 1.3% in 2019 to 2.3% in 2024. (Pupil absence in schools March 2025).

 So, what is causing this increase in school absence? 

It is challenging to attribute the rise in absenteeism to a single cause, but it is evident that this is a symptom of a complex and challenging set of problems affecting families, young people, and schools. It is not as simple as encouraging a student to attend school when they have a cold, despite the overly simplistic recent promotional campaign from the Department for Education suggesting such.

There appears to be a link between declining mental health and school absenteeism, with many of these factors falling under the label of emotional-based school avoidance (EBSA). You can read more about EBSA here. 

 During the Covid disruption, families found themselves in a situation where home schooling and remote learning became the norm for many young people. While some families and young people struggled with this, others thrived. In particular, groups of students whose anxiety, overstimulation, and distractions had hindered their learning found online learning offered an alternative where they could focus and achieve more.

What became evident is that one size does not fit all, and those experiences of home learning have begun to challenge long-held beliefs of parents and students about the value of face-to-face education. 

State education has been steadily declining into crisis for some time now, with challenges in recruitment and retention, declining behaviour, diminishing parental support, inadequate state funding, and a negative public image portrayed by the media. All of these factors are eroding parent and carer confidence in the system and leading them to explore other options for their young person. 

 What is the solution?

 Just as one size does not fit all in educational settings, no single solution will resolve the growing problem of school absenteeism. 

 First and foremost, state schools need adequate funding. Without this, no long-term or effective solution can be found. Schools need to be able to afford to engage with outside agencies and alternative provisions that can actively support families and young people to re-engage with their education or provide a high-quality, regulated, and supportive alternative. Schools need to collaborate with professionals from social care and health sectors and place specialists in meaningful roles that support families. Current school staff are spread so thinly that no single role can be performed at an expert level; this is not the fault of individual schools but the result of chronic underfunding over decades. 

Schools and educational settings also need to broaden their understanding of what a school setting can look like, offering smaller hub-style learning that better suits the needs of individual and smaller groups of students, using targeted alternative provisions and external agencies to bridge the gap where necessary. 

www.thephoenixproject.org.uk