Persistent absenteeism in schools has become an area of increasing concern in education (Nearly a third of UK secondary pupils avoid school due to anxiety, survey finds, 2 February). The response to that absenteeism is still focused on children and young people changing their attitudes and behaviour in order to fit in better into the educational system, with cognitive behaviour therapy suggested as one solution.
The education select committee found in 2023 that a major reason that large numbers of children had not returned to school after Covid were the barriers to attendance presented by poverty. Absenteeism, like exclusions, is a race and class issue. As Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner, said in her response to the persistent absence inquiry: “Children are not absent from school because they don’t want to learn. They are desperate to learn but everyday thousands of children find themselves without the support that they need to engage in education and attend school.”
