Tougher truancy guidance launched

12 July 2011 Last updated at 16:25 GMT The number of "persistently absent" truants is recorded in a school’s performance The way in which pupils in England are judged to be "persistent truants" is being tightened from October.

The Department for Education is changing the definition of "persistent absence" from missing 20% of lessons to missing 15%.

Ministers say while 184,000 pupils miss 20% of lessons, more than 430,000 miss 15% of lessons a year - the equivalent of having a month off school a year.

Teachers' unions say the new threshold will not tackle the roots of truancy.

The Department said there was clear evidence of a link between poor attendance and low levels of achievement, with only 3% of pupils who miss more than 50% of school getting the benchmark of five GCSEs at grade A* to C, including English and maths.

Of those who missed between 10% and 20%, only 35% managed to achieve the benchmark.

The government said for pupils who missed less than 5% of school, 73% achieved five A* to Cs, including English and maths.

Anti-social behaviour

Government adviser on behaviour in schools Charlie Taylor said: "As a teacher, I know how the poor attendance of pupils can disrupt their own learning and that of other pupils.

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Publication of yet more raw figures will simply enable misleading conclusions to be drawn.”

End Quote Brian Lightman Association of School and College Leaders "Quickly these children begin to fall behind their friends and often fail to fill in gaps in their skills or knowledge - sometimes in basics like reading or writing.

"Over time these pupils can become bored and disillusioned with education. These pupils are lost to the system, and can fall into anti-social behaviour and crime. That is why it is vital schools tackle absenteeism."

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: "By changing the threshold on persistent absence, we are encouraging schools to crack down on persistent absenteeism.

"We will be setting out over the coming months stronger powers for schools to use if they wish to send a clear message to parents that persistent absence is unacceptable."

'Ineffective replacement'

The Association of School and College Leaders said arbitrary targets for persistent absence would not help to address the complex problem of truancy.

ASCL general secretary Brian Lightman said: "This is another example of using accountability targets as an ineffective replacement for effective strategies to address the issues. Publication of yet more raw figures will simply enable misleading conclusions to be drawn.

"Dealing with the very small core of pupils who persistently truant, and whose parents condone this, requires perseverance, investment and a real commitment to cross-agency collaboration."

He added: "One issue with the government's definition of persistent absence is that it includes young people with long-term health problems and disabilities who may well be in hospital or unable to attend for medical reasons.

"Setting arbitrary targets will only discourage schools from taking on additional pupils with serious medical issues, as those schools that do will be unjustly labelled and blamed."

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said reducing the percentage at which persistent absence was identified would not make schools take action more effectively.

"In some areas intervention programmes, where education social workers, schools and the police work together to engage young people to ensure that their attitude to school is changed and that their parents are involved in supporting good attendance, have had very positive results.

"This kind of longer term intervention may be more expensive initially, but in the longer term is far more cost effective in ensuring that all children and young people attend school and achieve well."

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Autumn school truancy at new high

25 May 2011 Last updated at 13:59 GMT No clear reasons are given for the majority of unauthorised absences The autumn-term truancy rate in England's state schools in 2010 reached a five-year high, although overall absences continued to decrease.

Government statistics showed unauthorised absence rose from 0.93% of half-days missed in autumn 2009 to 1.04% in 2010.

Some of the rise, but not all, was due to an increase in the number of family holidays not agreed by schools.

But a fall in secondary-school absences means the overall figure has dropped.

The last government said schools were cracking down on "weak excuses", which meant more pupils were missing school without permission.

The unauthorised absences figure for autumn 2010 is the highest in the five years since the government began to collect termly data.

No clear reasons were given for the majority of cases, although about 17% were due to family holidays and 6% were classed as pupils arriving late.

The rise is mainly driven by primary school unauthorised absences, which have risen from 0.48% of half-days in autumn 2006 to 0.75% in 2010.

'Literacy link'

During that period, the proportion of unauthorised absences that were due to unagreed family holidays rose from 8% to 17%.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said absenteeism "is still too high".

"Truancy is often linked to poor literacy skills - that's why we are focusing on improving reading with synthetic phonics," he said.

"Our Education Bill puts teachers back in control of the classroom so pupils can be taught without disruption and teachers have more power to tackle truancy."

The main reason for authorised absence was illness (60%), followed by medical and dental appointments (5%) and agreed family holiday (7%).

Overall absence in autumn 2010 (6.1% of half-days) was higher than in autumn 2006 (5.9%), but is down from a peak in 2008 (6.4%).

There were also nearly 27,000 pupils classed as "persistent absentees", having missed more than 64 half days of school - although this figure has dropped from 48,000 in 2006.

'Easy-fix discipline'

Children's charity Barnardo's said the latest figures were a sign the school system was "failing somewhere".

Assistant director of policy and research Louise Bamfield said: "Throwing more robust discipline and punishment at absenteeism is misdirected.

"The root causes of a child's impulse to flee the classroom, which often lie outside school, also need to be addressed."

"The government needs to think beyond easy-fix discipline which treats the symptoms and not the cause."

The previous government also tried to clamp down on truancy, and parents have been prosecuted for letting their children miss school.

When Labour came to power in 1997, the annual rate of unauthorised absence was about 0.7% - a constant figure since 1994.

School absence figures for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are published separately.

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