Numbers missing 20 school days or more in disadvantaged areas of 'particular concern'
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Thousands of students missed out on at least a month of school last year, prompting concerns amongst inspectors about poor attendance rates post-covid.
More than a quarter of all primary school students, and more than a fifth of all post-primary students, missed out on 20 or more school days during the 2022/23 school year. The problem is particularly marked in disadvantaged areas.
Of “particular concern” is that 43% of primary school students, and 30% of post-primary school students in schools with the highest levels of disadvantage missed 20 school days or more. Partial attendance at school can be a precursor towards more significant issues that may lead to early school leaving.
As previously highlighted by the , prior to the pandemic, the average percentage of primary pupils who missed more than 20 days of school per year was 11.6%, while the equivalent for post-primary students was 15%.
The school attendance figures for 2022/23 are included in the recently published Department of Education Inspectorate Report, which analyses education in schools, early learning and care settings between January 2021 and December 2023.
Attending school regularly is crucial to ensuring that a child or young person has the “best chance of success”, the report notes. “Conversely, poor attendance levels are associated with lower outcomes, more restricted educational pathways and limited opportunities to progress to further education, training and the world of work.”
Internationally, the OECD has found that school attendance has been “significantly and negatively affected by the covid-19 pandemic”, the Inspectorate Report notes. “In the UK, researchers have argued that the pandemic has altered the social contract between schools and society fundamentally, and that one of the most notable casualties of this has been regular school attendance.”
These concerns are also reflected in Ireland in the most recent data provided by the Tusla Education Support Service (TESS), and in inspection reports from settings that cater for young people on alternative educational pathways, such as community training centres.
During the 2023/24 school year, all schools were provided with additional resources from the Department of Education in a bid to promote good attendance. School inspectors tasked with examining the home school community liaison (HSCL) service enquired into how 30 schools used these additional resources.
Almost all schools, 96.6%, either used the grant to purchase prizes such as certificates, stickers, vouchers, digital devices, pizza parties and movie vouchers, or to finance one-off events. This included paying a speaker to address a parents’ meeting, providing bespoke support for prioritised parents in their homes, and making posters and signs to promote the importance of regular school attendance throughout the school.
Children and young people told inspectors that strategies that placed too much emphasis on sanctions did little to promote attendance. However, a number of young people also reported the “limited value of these extrinsic motivators” in encouraging them to attend school.
“It is not yet apparent that strategies to promote attendance, particularly in schools where the attendance of children and young people is a cause for concern, place sufficient emphasis on the critical link between high-quality, responsive, teaching and consistently good school attendance,” the Inspectors report notes.