The Covid pandemic has caused a “seismic shift in parental attitudes to school attendance” that will take a “monumental, multi-service effort to change”, according to new research.
Public First held focus groups across England to investigate the rise in pupil absences since 2019, and found a “fundamental breakdown in the relationship between schools and parents across the socioeconomic spectrum”.
Government data shows one in five pupils were persistently absent from school last year, with an attendance gap between poorer children and their better off peers widening. Home education has also soared in the wake of the pandemic.
Today’s research, supported by charities Impetus, Khulisa and School-Home Support, found an “increased willingness among parents to take children on holiday during termtime”, a rise in mental health problems and the cost of living crisis were among the “factors” driving lower attendance.
