Press Release - Improving School Attendance in England
4 February 2005
A report by the National Audit Office today has highlighted the
major challenge faced by the Department for Education and Skills in
reducing pupil absence from schools. The Department, together with
local authorities and schools, has made some progress in reducing
total absence. At the same time, there has been no decline in
unauthorised absence, the causes of which have proved difficult to
tackle. The Department must sustain momentum to achieve substantial
and lasting improvements in pupil attendance.
The total absence rate in 2003-04 is equivalent to 450,000 of
the 6.7 million pupils in maintained schools in England not
attending each day. This includes absence that schools authorise
for legitimate reasons, most commonly health reasons, such as
illness or medical appointments. Attendance needs to be managed
because, while absent, young people are not benefiting from
education to the value of £1.6 billion each year. This
represents an educational loss to the young people themselves –
absence from school can make a big difference to pupils’
achievements. Pupils with high absence rates are much more likely
to leave school with few or no qualifications and they are more at
risk of being drawn into undesirable activities, including crime
and anti-social behaviour.
Absence rates vary substantially between schools, from under one
per cent to nearly 30 per cent of school days. Some of the
variation is associated with socio-economic conditions: in
particular, schools with high levels of pupils with free school
meals (an indicator of deprivation) tend to see higher rates of
absence. Nevertheless, many schools’ absence rates are clearly
better or worse than would be expected from their context, and at
least some of the difference is likely to be due to how schools
deal with absence.
Although the Department’s main focus in recent years has been to
reduce unauthorised absence, it has remained steady at 0.7 per cent
of school days. Total absence in maintained schools, which includes
unauthorised absence, has been reduced to 6.7 per cent of school
days in 2003-04 (from 7.6 per cent in 1994-95). This reduction in
absence is the equivalent of around 60,000 more pupils back in
school each day.
The Department has introduced a range of initiatives to fund and
support improved management of attendance at a local level.
Overall, the initiatives are leading to improvements. For example,
under the Behaviour Improvement Programme (the largest national
initiative which provides local authorities with funding to tackle
poor standards of behaviour, including poor attendance), the
Department has allocated £331 million of funding between July 2002
and 2005-06 to authorities in deprived areas. The Programme has had
an impact, with absence rates in the first schools to benefit from
the funding declining on average twice as fast as the national
absence rate, although around one fifth of these schools have not
reduced absence.
Other national initiatives have provided expert advice for
schools and local authorities, helped to improve the efficiency of
their attendance management systems, and raised the profile of
school attendance.
According to today’s report, the Department’s attendance
strategy should be enhanced by increasing the focus on primary
school absence and parental attitudes. There is a risk of younger
pupils falling into a pattern of absence that tends to increase
over time if the causes are not resolved. Negative parental
attitudes to education are closely associated with absence, and may
also be more difficult to change once they become established. The
most successful schools have a culture of high attendance and they
integrate their views on attendance into wider, positive
communications with pupils, parents and carers.
Local authorities and schools do much good work in improving
attendance, but effective practices should be more widely adopted.
For example, increased use of electronic systems for registering
pupils and monitoring attendance would help tackle absence in
secondary schools. And where secondary school pupils struggle with
academic subjects, some schools have improved pupils’ motivation by
developing the curriculum in ways that match pupils’ aptitudes and
aspirations better.
Ofsted inspections of schools and local authorities have a
valuable role to play in improving attendance management,
highlighting weaknesses and encouraging actions to improve
attendance. There may be scope for Ofsted to add further
value by increasing the emphasis on improving attendance.
Sir John said:
"Better attendance at school by pupils improves their
educational achievements and, in turn, their lives and prospects.
Even a small reduction in absence would result in many pupils
receiving greater benefit from their education.
"The rate of absence from schools in England has proved
difficult to reduce. However, the efforts of the Department for
Education and Skills, local authorities and schools are starting to
have an impact. They must keep up the momentum and reinforce in
schools and among parents and pupils the importance of attending
school."
Notes for Editors:
- The parent or carer is legally responsible for ensuring that
their child of compulsory school age (from five years to 16 years
of age) receives suitable full-time education. Unauthorised absence
includes term-term holidays where they are not agreed by the school
and truancy.
- The Department for Education and Skills sets policy on school
attendance and funds and runs initiatives to tackle absence. Local
authorities work with schools to take action to improve attendance.
Schools tackle absence by recording attendance, following up
absentees and running schemes to encourage good attendance.
- The Department for Education and Skills spent around £885
million between 1997-98 and 2003-04 on initiatives intended, at
least in part, to reduce absence.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at www.nao.org.uk.
Hard copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702
3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office which employs some 800 staff. He
and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 12/05
All enquiries to Barry Lester, NAO Press Office:
Tel: 020 7798 7937
Mobile: 07748 181692