A rising proportion of Australian students aren’t going to school – and there’s not just one way to get them back, report says

The rate of school refusal has steadily worsened over the past five years, with First Nations students particularly affected. Photograph: Justin Paget/Getty Images

A new report has urged the federal government to collect national data on chronic absenteeism and embed layers of support in schools to tackle Australia’s growing student attendance crisis.

The report, provided exclusively to Guardian Australia by Independent Schools Australia (ISA), drew from interviews with academics, mental health clinicians and teachers. It called on the government to implement a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) to better support children struggling to stay in school.