A Mother’s Struggle with School Attendance Amidst Scotland’s Rising Absence Rates

Hannah is one of thousands of children across Scotland who have been regularly missing school. The duration of these absences varies, with some pupils absent for days and others for years. Twelve-year-old Hannah missed most of her primary school education. From her first day, she barely spoke and became very upset, prompting the school to call her mother daily for her to be picked up. By the time she reached primary four, she completely refused to attend, reacting by taking off her uniform, crying, and screaming. Psychologists indicate that the increase in children absent from school is not due to truancy but because many experience too much anxiety to enter the school premises. Furthermore, since Covid, many children continue to struggle with full-time attendance. The most recent figures from the Scottish government reveal that nearly one in three pupils are persistently absent from school. Hannah’s mum Ashly stated that her daughter, who is autistic, found the school environment challenging due to its noise and busyness. “Obviously she didn’t feel safe in school,” Hannah says. “She didn’t feel comfortable. I tried everything to get her to school.” Then, almost two years ago, they began collaborating with a project from the charity Quarriers called Reach, which involves a trained staff member visiting their home in Glasgow to help boost their confidence. “For the first six weeks she wouldn’t even speak to her,” Ashly says. The support worker started by accompanying Hannah to the primary school for an hour daily, sitting with her in a quiet room to do crafts and games. Over the previous summer, before Hannah began secondary school, she and her worker spent days at the school baking cakes and enjoying themselves. After nearly two years, Hannah’s worker has gradually helped her reach a point where she attends her S1 secondary school class most days. Ashly told the BBC: “Even getting Hannah to school without crying and being upset was a big thing and now she gets herself ready and gets herself organised for school so that is a big difference.” While the average attendance in schools has increased by 0.1% in the past two years, overall it remains lower than pre-pandemic levels. Scotland has more than 700,000 pupils, and according to the latest report, over 31% of them were absent for 10% or more of the year, which is equivalent to at least 19 school days missed. In the decade preceding the Covid-19 school closures, persistent absence ranged between 19% and 22%, but by 2023/24, secondary school rates had climbed to 40%. One in 40 pupils was absent for more than half of the school year – at least 95 days. Among local authorities, the rate of persistent absence was lowest in East Renfrewshire at 20% and highest in North Ayrshire at 37.9%. A Scottish government spokesperson indicated that it was addressing “issues of attendance” with Education Scotland and the interim chief inspector, alongside initiatives by local authorities. “The pandemic had a significant impact on school attendance, so it is welcome to see some positive improvement in attendance and persistent absence levels,” he said. He added, “All children and young people should get the support that they need to reach their full potential, but we need sustained effort at all levels of the education system to ensure this happens.” Glasgow City Council’s own data shows that school absence has increased every year for the past five years. The council is now developing a campaign to particularly encourage parents to remember the importance of attending. Barry Syme, the lead educational psychologist for Glasgow, informed the BBC that absence is generally not about children skipping school. “I think the days of children just bunking off is a very simple way of looking at it,” he said. He continued, “We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of young people with mental health concerns, particularly anxiety and stress. “That was still an issue pre-pandemic but certainly the pandemic has not helped in any way with that.” Mr. Syme mentioned that there had been an increase in the number of young people identified with neurodiversity and the associated challenges of the school environment, such as noise and large numbers of people. He also stated that children were perceiving the pressures felt by their parents, including cost of living issues. Colin Simpson, who oversees the Quarriers service, reported significant benefits from providing one-to-one support to families. In the first two years, the project worked with approximately 200 children, but another 400 are still waiting. “There’s a huge waiting list for this service because there’s an awful lot of young people across the city of Glasgow and beyond who have chronic non-attendance challenges and they all deserve that kind of support,” he said. He further noted, “But it takes time to give a child the support that they need. “And it takes a lot of effort and energy and a really, really well established relationship.” Professor Edward Sosu of the University of Strathclyde described the decline in average attendance as a serious concern and emphasized that Scotland needed to address the problem. He identified a rise in poverty, mental health problems, and additional support needs as the primary reasons for the increase in absences. He also stated that regardless of social class or background, it was almost impossible to compensate for lost time in school. His research examined individuals aged between 34 and 42, and the impact their school attendance rates had on their outcomes. “What we found is that missing an average of just 10 days aged 10 was linked to not having any qualifications age 42 or not being in employment. So missing that small amount of school in that time had a negative impact,” he said. He further elaborated, “This was irrespective of their socioeconomic background, irrespective of cognitive outcomes, irrespective of all the background characteristics.” He concluded, “Our assumption originally was that those from middle class backgrounds will be able to help their children catch up – but what we found is that irrespective of your background, absences have a negative impact on your educational achievement.” Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Information regarding their approach to external linking is available.