Understanding pupil absence in schools in Wales — September 2023
The Welsh Government commissioned us to undertake research amongst parents and carers in Wales with a child with attendance issues to understand more about the reasons for their absences, the support offered, and what help their family would find useful.
Attendance rates in Wales have not recovered since COVID-19, and the publication of statistics on absence from Secondary Schools 2022/23 is a stark reminder of the continuing impact on children and young people.
2,616 parents completed the survey in total, 654 of which were from parents with a child who has had more than 20 days’ absence in a school year (excluding when schools were closed due to the pandemic) – our definition of poor attendance.
The story so far…
A lot of hard work and effort by school staff and others has already gone into re-engaging and supporting learners following the pandemic and continues to take place in all parts of Wales.
Some of the actions taken so far include:
- The Renew and Reform plan outlined their commitment to supporting learners’ wellbeing and progression in response to the pandemic, putting learners’ physical and mental health and wellbeing at the heart of its approach and investing nearly £500 million in 2020–21 and 2021–22.
- In 2022–23, additional funding included £3.5 million to support attendance in schools, with a particular focus on encouraging learners who have become disengaged from learning following the pandemic or who were at risk of disengaging.
- The Recruit, Recover and Raise Standards programme has recruited and retained over 1,800 full-time equivalent staff to boost capacity and capability to support learners, with schools given the flexibility to use the funding to address their particular challenges and needs.
- An investment of £2.5 million into the education welfare service this year to provide much-needed additional capacity.
- The Parentkind attendance report, which marks what will be the start of a national conversation with parents about the challenges they are facing and provides an all-important opportunity for parents to participate in the development of solutions.
Download the full reports
To read the report in its entirety, you can download it in either English or Welsh below.
Key findings
27%
of all parents said their child has barriers to attending school regularly, with 19% saying they have worsened since the pandemic
From all parents
- 59% of all parents told us their child’s school has a written policy on attendance, whilst 7% said their child’s school doesn’t. One-third (34%) of parents don’t know whether their child’s school has a written attendance policy, despite this being a requirement.
- The vast majority (84%) of parents said they are aware of their child’s school’s expectations about attendance. Just over one in ten (11%) parents said their child’s school hasn’t communicated their expectations about attendance, with 5% of parents unsure.
- 97% of parents are comfortable talking to someone at school about its attendance policy. Their child’s class teacher or the head teacher was most popular, followed by the school reception staff.
- When it comes to following up on non-attendance, 38% of all parents said they are always contacted by the school that morning if their child is absent from school, with another 16% saying they are usually contacted the same morning.
- 27% of all parents said their child has barriers to attending school regularly, with 19% saying they have worsened since the pandemic, 6% saying they are as they were before the pandemic and 2% saying the situation has improved since the pandemic. 64% of parents said their child hasn’t had barriers, whilst 6% of parents said their child doesn’t have any barriers currently but had previously.
- Parents described a range of barriers that influenced their child attending school, with just over half of respondents citing illness as a key factor, one in three that their child refuses to go to school and around one in five citing unmet needs.
- 25% of all parents said their child has been absent for at least 20 days in a school year, whilst 62% of parents said their child hasn’t. 13% of parents weren’t sure if their child had been absent for more than 20 days.
29%
of parents with a child with attendance issues say their child has Additional Learning Needs.
From parents with a child with poor attendance
- Secondary school parents make up a higher percentage of respondents with a child with attendance issues than primary school parents (53% vs. 43%). Similarly, parents with a child with attendance issues are more likely to say their child has Additional Learning Needs (ALN) compared with all respondents (29% vs. 17%) and more likely to have a child eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) (38% vs. 23%).
- Parents with a child with attendance issues are more likely to be contacted by the school straight away if their child is absent (62% saying always or mostly vs. 54% of all parents).
- 9% of parents with a child with poor attendance said their child has barriers to attending school compared with 27% of all parents. Of those identifying barriers, 77% said that the situation has deteriorated since the pandemic, 19% said that things have stayed broadly the same, whilst 4% said their child’s situation has improved since the pandemic.
- Interestingly, more than a quarter (27%) of parents said their child does not have any barriers to attending school regularly, despite having more than 20 days’ absence in a school year.
- Parents with a child with attendance issues were most likely to report facing barriers relating to health issues (57% of parents reporting barriers), a refusal to go to school (44%) and/or having unmet needs (27%).
- Almost half (46%) of parents said their child’s 20+ days of absence were made up of shorter periods of absence across the year compared with 14% who said their child’s absence was consecutive periods of time (e.g. 10 days or more). 38% told us it was a combination of the two.
- Half of parents (50%) have been asked for details of issues which may be impacting their child being at school, whilst 47% said their child’s school hasn’t enquired. Secondary school parents are more likely to be asked than primary school parents, as are parents with a child with ALN and parents with a child eligible for FSM compared to parents without a child with ALN or without FSM.
- Many parents said their child’s school had offered some support, with ‘time out’ cards from lessons and other adaptions in class/school, counselling sessions, supportive teachers, and well-being support some of the most common responses.
- A different timetable was the most popular form of support mentioned — a fifth of parents (21%) said the school suggested a different timetable to support their child to return to school, rising to 36% of parents with a child with ALN and 28% of secondary school parents.
- 29% of parents said their child’s school has a Family Engagement Officer (FEO) or similar member of staff. of these 45% said they have supported them to help their child attend school, compared with 55% who said the FEO hasn’t been supportive. Parents with a child on FSM are more likely to say their child’s school has a Family Engagement Officer who supported them to help their child attend school than non-FSM parents.
- Almost one in five (19%) parents said their child’s school has suggested referring them to other agencies that could provide them with support to help their child attend school. Parents with a child with ALN, at secondary school or from an urban location are more likely to be referred than other parents. The most frequently mentioned referral was to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
- 22% of parents with a child with attendance issues have had some contact with their Local Authority Welfare Service. Parents with a child with ALN and secondary school parents are more likely to than other parents. Feedback on the support offered was mixed.
- Similarly, parents’ rating of the attendance support received from the school is also mixed. Just over one-third (36%) of parents rate the support received from their child’s school on attendance as good, compared to a quarter of parents (25%) rating the support received as bad. A third of parents (34%) said the support was neither good nor bad.
Glossary of terms
| Acronym | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ALN | Additional Learning Needs |
| CAMHS | Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services |
| FEO | Family Engagement Officer |
| FSM | Free School Meals |
The start of a national conversation
The Welsh Government are keen this is only the beginning of the conversation. Only by working together can we address this issue and ensure that all children and young people are given the best possible start in life and are supported to reach their potential.
It’s clear that there is no one solution, one group or one sector that can address this issue. Therefore, the Welsh Government are establishing a National Attendance taskforce, to provide strategic direction, set priorities and identify further tangible actions to drive improvements in attendance and re-engage learners.
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