Half of councils unable to provide data on persistent school absences
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Just half of councils can provide an estimate of persistent and severe school absences for last term, the children’s commissioner for England has warned.
The criticism has emerged in the initial findings of Rachel de Souza's forthcoming review of school attendance rates, which is due to be published later this year.
She requested attendance data from all 151 councils in England for her review.
But while almost all responded, only around half were able to handover estimates of persistently absent children.
Data supplied by councils suggests that more than a fifth of pupils who missed lessons are persistently absent and 1.5 per cent are severely absent.
“Despite being a country that collects more data than most on school attendance, the system has significant weaknesses in supplying accurate, and in some cases, credible numbers on those children who are losing out by either not being in school at all, or who are persistently or severely absent from school they are enrolled at,” said de Souza.
“As things stand, we do not have an accurate real time figure of how many children there are in England, let alone the number of children not receiving education, nor where they are”, she added.
In addition, eight per cent of councils did not have an estimate of how many local children are missing from education and 13 per cent did not know how many local 16- to 17-year-olds are not in education, employment or training.
This is despite a statutory requirement on councils to collect data on vulnerable groups of children, warns de Souza.
Her report calls for a review of attendance data collection, with a focus on improving data sharing and sharing good practice.
“Everyone working with children needs to do everything they can to make sure children are in school – to help them get the keys to unlocking their futures, keep them safe, and receive additional support in a timely way if, and when they need it,” she added.
“While the majority of children are attending every day, there are tens of thousands of children who are persistently or severely absent or missing from education altogether.”
Barriers to attendance identified in the report include lack of support around mental health and wellbeing. Some children said they did not feel safe in school.
Further findings from de Souza’s review will include an in depth look at 10 council areas: Brighton and Hove, Brent, Cambridgeshire, Coventry, Darlington, Doncaster, Lewisham, Plymouth, Sheffield, and Wakefield.
