Teachers are well accustomed to calling out names on registers and finding the odd child absent. Since the pandemic, however, numbers of “ghost children” have ballooned to what is now widely acknowledged to be a national crisis.
In England, more than 1.7 million “persistently absent” pupils missed 10% or more of their school time last autumn, according to government figures. A further 125,000 “severely absent” children spent less than half their time in school.
These missing pupils are invariably described as “invisible”, “lost” and “vanished”. To their teachers and peers, they might appear as challenging – unable to follow the most fundamental rule of the classroom: to show up. But data tells us that it is the most vulnerable children in our society who are most prone to persistent absence.
Sometimes pupils are suffering from crushing anxiety and depression that means they are unable to leave their room, much less get through the school day. For others, poverty, parental mental illness or the impact of domestic violence mean they are grappling with social and emotional difficulties.
A staggering 50% of disadvantaged pupils in year 10 have been persistently absent, according to one report. Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds who are eligible for free school meals are three times more likely to be severely absent than peers whose families are on higher incomes. That ratio is the same for those who receive special educational needs and disabilities (Send) support, while Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children have significantly higher levels of absence than other ethnic groups.
