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4 minute read
School attendance is rarely just about whether a pupil is physically present in the classroom. Behind persistent absence can lie complex issues around belonging, wellbeing, behaviour, family circumstances and a young person’s sense of purpose and agency.
In this interview, Paul Jenkins from HFL Education, author of Making School Unmissable, explores why schools need to look beyond attendance figures and consider the wider picture — creating environments where pupils feel they belong, understand the value of education and are empowered to take an active role in their own experience.
Paul will be sharing his expertise at the Schools & Academies Show, where he’ll explore the connections between attendance, wellbeing, behaviour and parental engagement, and what schools can do to develop a more joined-up approach.
In your book, you advocate for making schooling 'compelling rather than compulsory'. How does cultivating the specific senses of belonging and empowerment relate to absenteeism in schools today?
Arguably the drop in school attendance is students voting with their feet about what they are getting from the school system as a whole: not enough. The pandemic undoubtedly changed attitudes and many schools have worked on developing a stronger sense of belonging for their students.
With weaker attenders, this is very difficult, by the very nature of their problems – less regular attendance at schools almost always results in an increasingly detached sense of belonging. In Making School Unmissable we argue that, whilst undoubtedly important, belonging on its own is not enough. There were plenty of children who would come into school in their uniform but then refuse to go to lessons - they felt it was a place they belonged but that lessons didn’t offer anything vital to them.
When schools work on giving their students a sense of empowerment, linked to a sense of purpose, then the students are less likely to be passive recipients of the slings and arrows of daily life and start to take more control of their emotions and their behaviour. Schools need to weave their vision of education into each students’ life plans and show them how education and the school experience is in their interests; that they are a co-pilot, not merely a passenger, in their educational experience.
When we talk about attendance, wellbeing and behaviour, how closely connected are these issues in practice, and why can it be risky for schools to treat them separately?
Attendance is often the symptom but not the cause. Having said that, you need to treat both symptom and cause. Inevitably the causes are often multi-faceted and sometimes oblique, whereas the symptoms are more obvious and can lead to temporary improvement. Wellbeing and academic skills are often the two root causes, while poor behaviour and attendance the symptoms.
Where schools only treat causes, they make very slow progress and risk ‘ruinous empathy’ where the long-term vision means gaps grow wider in the time it takes to make progress with these causes and therefore the attendance. Equally where schools deal with symptoms only, like a recurring illness, then there is temporary relief but rarely does it solve the problem.
The problems need to be addressed from both sides; schools are generally good at that with behaviour, for issuing detentions but also providing counselling to address underlying issues. With attendance they often major on one side and this means the problems are not resolved sufficiently.
What does effective support look like when a pupil’s attendance, behaviour and wellbeing are all signalling that something deeper may be going on?
Coordination is key, but also the absolute challenge with complex issues. Poor attendance is usually fed by complex issues and ensuring that it is not seen as a statistical issue, or treated as such, is key. The support needs to be optimistic, empowering but challenging – often to both parents and children who can be equally in denial, or feeling powerless in the circumstances.
Different parents need to be supported in different ways and by matching the parenting style and approach to the school’s then you are more likely to be successful. In my upcoming book Getting Attendance Right we look at those different parent types in a continuum and ensure that the school flexes to get parents on board. With the parents against the school, or even ambivalent towards the issue, then it’s difficult to get traction.
Support has to be genuine support and attendance issues should be treated with the same sensitivity and humanity as pastoral issues; only in extreme cases are legal threats or shaming used with complex pastoral issues, but this is often the case with attendance.
What are the biggest challenges schools face in identifying the root causes behind poor attendance, wellbeing concerns or behaviour difficulties, particularly when families and external services are also involved?
There is great shame associated with poor attendance and it can be seen as an indicator of so-called ‘bad parenting’. This sense of embarrassment can be exacerbated by school systems and can often set parents and students up in opposition to the school. It is really important that schools ease that voice in parents’ heads that makes them think they are being judged as poor parents otherwise defensive behaviours dominate and this becomes a major barrier.
The other big challenge is the difference between the presented reason and the actual reason. Many poor attenders don’t attend school because they have social issues with their friends, but few will admit that. Instead, it becomes a ‘tummy ache’ and sometimes involves numerous fruitless trips to the hospital because whilst it is real, it is psychosomatic - driven by emotion rather than disease.
Some reasons, such as anxiety or an ever-changing set of mild incapacities and illnesses, have to be addressed, but when schools suggest there may be bigger, more sensitive issues, it can be really hard for parents to consider this; hence why the reassurance that it’s not bad parenting is key to allow them to open up and think beyond the presented issues.
What practical steps can schools and trusts take to create a more joined-up approach that improves attendance, strengthens wellbeing and supports positive behaviour across their setting?
The most basic thing schools can do is look at their communication with parents, and that is the whole parent body. Inevitably a lot of effort goes into students who are severely absent and have highly complex problems, but there’s lots of easy wins with the higher attendees if the messaging around things like 95% not being good enough and the concept of ‘pushing through’ minor illnesses become part of the school dialogue.
When attendance starts to become a problem, schools often mention issuing fines at a very early stage, which generally serves to get parents’ backs up and diminishes that fragile relationship.
Reading the letters and communication from the point of view of a good-hearted but struggling parent is important – the word ‘support’ might be in there, but often the tone is of threat and shame. The communication defines not only how important attendance is, but how the school approach it and this is the easiest way to signal it’s a joint responsibility and keep an open dialogue.
School attendance is rarely just about whether a pupil is physically present in the classroom. Behind persistent absence can lie complex issues around belonging, wellbeing, behaviour, family circumstances and a young person’s sense of purpose and agency.
Ahead of the Schools & Academies Show Birmingham this November, we caught up with speaker Paul Jenkins, HFL Education, to discuss why schools need to look beyond attendance figures and consider the wider picture — creating environments where pupils feel they belong, understand the value of education and are empowered to take an active role in their own experience.