There has been a profound breakdown in parental attitudes to the idea of full-time school attendance in the years since the Coronavirus pandemic, a landmark study has found.
Researchers on the project, the first of its kind, undertook focus group conversations with parents across the country, from all types of background to find out what was driving the sudden drop in attendance. Overall absence is up by more than 50 per cent since 2019 and persistent absence (pupils missing 10 per cent or more of lessons) has more than doubled.
The conclusions of this work should worry anyone who believes in the importance of education. Parents no longer believe it is their responsibility to ensure their children are in school every day: the idea that every day in school matters has been abandoned by mums and dads.
Parents in the focus groups were clear that school closures during the pandemic had shifted this attitude in an unprecedented way.
Other factors driving the drop in attendance were found to included the increased willingness among parents to take children on holiday during termtime, the rise in mental health problems among young people and the cost of living crisis.
The research did not find any evidence to suggest that working from home was driving the sudden drop in attendance. It also concluded that fines for significant absence were counterproductive.
“Pre-Covid, I was very much about getting the kids into school: attendance was a big thing,” said one parent in Manchester, with two children aged five and 10.
“Education was a major thing. After Covid, I’m not gonna lie to you, my take on attendance and absence now is like I don’t really care any more. Life’s too short.”
The report found that Covid has caused a seismic shift in parental attitudes to school attendance that is going to take a monumental, multi-service effort to change.
It is no longer the case that every day matters – at least from the perspective of parents and that there has been a fundamental breakdown in the relationship between schools and parents across the socioeconomic spectrum.
School level attendance systems feel increasingly draconian to families, and yet they are not sufficiently robust or accurate. This undermines the relationship between school and families and sanctions are seen as both irrelevant and antagonistic across all parent groups.
The authors found that there needs to be a review of how schools and the wider education system communicate with parents and the messaging and that fines are deeply unpopular with parents across the social spectrum.
The efficacy and implementation of fines should be reviewed and potentially abolished say the authors.
