What’s working to improve school attendance? Education Committee asks experts
The Education Committee will examine what has and hasn’t worked in efforts to improve school attendance.
Meeting details
MPs will question experts from charities, think tanks and school leaders’ unions to understand the policies and initiatives that have helped reduce levels of persistent absence – when a pupil misses 10% or more of their session in a school term.
The latest Department for Education (DfE) data shows that 20% of all school pupils were persistently absent in 2023/24 – equal to nearly 1.5 million pupils across state primary and secondary schools. This was up from the 10.9% persistent absence rate in 2018/19 (before the Covid pandemic).
The rate of ‘severe absence’ in 2023/24, meaning a pupil missed 50% or more of sessions, was 2.3%.
Meanwhile, for the 2024/25 academic year-to-date the persistent absence figure was 18.4 per cent.
DfE data also shows that persistent absence rates are higher among children who are eligible for free school meals.
During the session, witnesses are likely to be asked about factors that are believed to be causing high levels of absence, such as unmet need among pupils with SEND, prevalence of mental health conditions, barriers associated with poverty, and whether social attitudes to school have changed since the pandemic.
The cross-party Committee will be interested to hear whether measures in the previous Government’s statutory guidance to schools, to improve attendance, has been effective. Other measures have included a pilot for some local authorities to hire teams of attendance mentors, attendance hubs where school leaders share best practice, the current Government’s rollout of breakfast clubs, and legal actions aimed at parents.
There may also be questions about other actions, for schools and local authorities, that have or have not proved successful.