3 Persuading pupils and their parents
of the importance of attending school
17. If pupils do not attend school, they cannot learn.
It is important that head teachers create a strong set of values,
or ethos, which reinforces the importance of attendance and learning.
Head teachers can build and communicate such an ethos through
their contact with parents, including on open days, parents' evenings
and in pupils' school reports, and good head teachers make attendance
an integral part of how they run their school. Weak head teachers
whose schools had very poor attendance records would be identified
by Ofsted inspections, and action could ultimately be taken to
remove the head teacher.[24]
18. Faith schools and voluntary aided schools (many
schools are both) tend to have good levels of attendance. Analysis
of 2002-03 pure absence rates in faith schools and non-faith schools,
without adjustment for schools' context, found that faith schools
tend to have lower total absence rates (Figure 6).[25]
Their performance is likely to be related to ethos and parental
support for the school, and to the types of children who are pupils.[26]
A more sophisticated analysis of factors associated with school
absence rates showed that some types of school are statistically
associated with lower rates of absence after allowing for schools'
context, such as the take up of free school meals. At secondary
level, selective schools, voluntary aided schools, specialist
schools, foundation schools and boys' schools tended to have lower
absence rates.[27] Figure
6: Performance of faith and non-faith secondary schools on attendance,
2002-03
Secondary schools that are faith-based are more likely
to have better than average attendance (without any adjustments
for schools' contexts).
Note: This figure compares secondary schools' total
absence rates with the average for their local authority, with
average performance equating to within (+/-) 0.5% of the local
average. The analysis is not adjusted for any of the factors,
such as free schools meals, which are known to be linked to absence
rates, and differences between the contexts of faith and non-faith
schools will account for some of the difference between the two
bars.
Source: National Audit Office
19. Pupils' and parents' attitudes to education are
formed during the early years and can be difficult to change.
It is very important to create positive attitudes in young children,
and to identify, challenge and change negative parental attitudes
during pre-school and primary school education.[28]
The Department has been encouraging primary schools to identify
problems early, because a pattern of absence can become established.
Local authorities provide support to families on parenting and
how to bring up a child, sometimes even before a child is born.
The Sure Start programme provides some support, and the Department
has decided to provide substantial support of this kind to some
of the most deprived parts of England.[29]
20. Secondary schools pupils are absent more often
that primary school pupils - in 2004-05, pupils in maintained
secondary schools missed 7.82% of school time while primary pupils
missed 5.43% of school time. Both authorised and unauthorised
absence rates are higher in secondary schools.[30]
This difference is likely to be due at least in part to some pupils
finding academic subjects unattractive or less relevant to them.
For example, a teenage pupil with poor English language skills
might be expected to attend lessons in a foreign language. A varied,
alternative curriculum that may include vocational elements can
engage these pupils better and provide them with skills that they
may need at work. Education welfare officers consider that changes
to the curriculum are important for improving attendance.[31]
Some colleges of further education have been successful in taking
school-age pupils who had been truanting and teaching them in
an adult environment.[32]
There is a need to look for different ways of engaging teenagers'
interest, which might involve more work experience or more vocational
options.[33] Reward schemes
can be effective in reducing absence by increasing the profile
of attendance among pupils.[34]
21. In normal circumstances parents are expected
to restrict family holidays to the school holiday periods, so
that pupils do not miss any school time. In-term holidays are
nevertheless estimated to account for around 15% of total absence,
which is equivalent to around 66,000 pupils each day during 2004-05.[35]
In a small proportion of cases, families may be genuinely unable
to take holidays during school holidays. Head teachers have discretion
to authorise up to 10 days of absence for holidays in a school
year, taking account of the pupil's attendance record and the
timing of the holiday, but these days are not an entitlement.
The Department publishes guidance for schools on term-time holidays,
but some head teachers are still uncertain about the circumstances
in which they should authorise this type of absence.[36]
Some schools take a much firmer line on authorising holidays than
others, for example by refusing to authorise any absence (as does
The London Oratory School) or by reinforcing the importance of
attendance by interviewing parents on their return from holiday
(Box 1).[37]
Box 1: Example of a school's firm approach to term-time holidays
The head teacher of Millbank Primary School in the London Borough of Westminster believes that improving parental attitudes is extremely important in tackling absence. In particular, the head teacher takes a firm line on term-time holidays.
She asks to interview parents who take their child on a term-time holiday. She explains the link between attendance and academic attainment and demonstrates to the parents what their child has missed by showing them the work completed by classmates during the period of absence. In some cases, she warns parents that their child may lose its place if it takes extended unauthorised absence. On one occasion, a family's children lost their places at the school as a result.
Source: National Audit Office, February 2005
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22. The Department is trying the tackle the high
cost of family holidays during school holiday time. Its discussions
with the Association of British Travel Agents and others have
considered how travel companies might give discounts to families
during the main school holidays if they book early enough. Some
local authorities are testing a six-term year that could create
more options for family holidays.[38]
24 Qq 57-59 Back
25
Q 63 Back
26
Q 6 Back
27
C&AG's Report, Figure 17 Back
28
C&AG's Report, para 4.23 Back
29
Qq 75, 78 Back
30
Ev 17 Back
31
C&AG's Report, para 4.13 Back
32
Q 107 Back
33
Qq 83, 88 Back
34
C&AG's Report, para 4.12 Back
35
Q 95 Back
36
C&AG's Report, para 4.16 Back
37
Qq 44, 49 Back
38
Q 101 Back
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