Understanding School Attendance Problems

Schools are at the front line in determining the cause of attendance problems.

The challenge of understanding school attendance problems is that they are often complex. They often transcend settings (home, school, community) and require the untangling of both cause and maintaining factors. In many instances schools and allied health professionals begin to address the causes (what may have happened in the past) only to be waylaid by the maintaining elements of the problem (e.g. the ongoing anxiety, parent withdrawal, breakdown in relationship between school and parents/ student). This article explores how schools might begin assessing and addressing school attendance problems.

Schools that are responsive to attendance problems are increasingly looking beyond an arbitrary threshold of absence or attendance rate (e.g. below 90%) when identifying an attendance problem. An attendance problem is identified both when there is a concern regarding a students pattern of attendance (e.g., prolonged absence, pattern of attendance is affecting learning) and there are compounding risk factors that indicate an emerging attendance problem (unexplained/ unjustified absences, school refusal, exclusion).

Much of the research in categorising school attendance problems has been undertaken in clinical settings where the young person has been referred. However, schools are well placed to triage attendance problems and speed up the process of access for young people to specialised treatment or supports. Having an understanding of school attendance problem types can also help schools to determine the best course of action in providing supports for student and family increasing the chances of the young person returning to school.

Following is a brief outline of the four main attendance problem types. Whilst each of these problem types can present individually they can also intersect each other. For example, there can be occasion when school refusal is supported by parents who do not feel the school can accommodate the needs of their son/ daughter.

School Refusal

School refusal is characterised by a student being absent from school due to emotional distress. Often the parents are aware of the issue but are unable to push/move/ motivate the young person to attend school. The heterogeneous nature of school refusal often means there is not a single strategy or fix that can be applied. However, most cases of school refusal have some aspect of anxiety at their foundation.

Addressing school refusal can require intense supports both by the school and in some cases clinical settings. Supports/ treatments may include cognitive behaviour therapies, exposure therapies and in extreme cases medication (usually in association with the previous two supports).

School Withdrawal

School withdrawal occurs when parents knowingly or through neglect keep a child away from school. It is defined in terms of parents:

“knowledge, consent, approval and that parents were unable or unwilling to insist on return…absence occurs because of the family’s difficulty in getting the child to school rather than the child’s difficulty in being at school”  (Galloway, 1982)

The causes of parent withdrawal is varied and schools should first attempt to hypothesis the reason for the withdrawal. Schools should not dismiss the reasons as in some cases parents may have well founded fears or need to keep the young person at home (e.g. bullying, previous suicide attempts, fragile immunity or the young person has a carer role). Supports for parent withdrawal often involve attempts to build relationship between parents and the school. The school within its capacity maybe able to refer the parents to community supports to mitigate some of the reasons for the withdrawal. Unfortunately, in some cases where withdrawal of the young person comes from parent neglect case management, reporting to relevant departments of community services and legal processes are required.

Truancy

Truancy is defined as a student’s unauthorised absence from school without the knowledge of their parents. The historical perspective towards attendance problems had been student centred and students who did not attend schools were labelled truants. However, as researchers have come to discern and develop typologies for causes of attendance problems we know that not all students who do not attend schools are truanting.

Unlike school refusal and withdrawal, truancy has been associated with challenging behaviour and the young persons engagement with the school and/or learning. Truancy can stem from learning difficulty, school bullying, poverty and homelessness. It can also develop from parent neglect, unemployment or community attitudes towards school. Therefore, truancy is often in indicator of underlying home, school or community issues that require addressing/ support before the student can re-engage with education.

Schools can prevent incidence of truancy by having sound systems to monitor daily attendance and follow up with parents instances where a student is absent. Schools can also actively promote attendance through supporting whole school belonging and connectedness initiatives. These may include:

• School mentoring and check in programs.

• Time and activity allocated to build positive teacher student and peer relationships.

• Proactive and responsive approaches to bullying.

• Schools and teachers have effective positive behaviour supports to minimise problematic behaviour.

• Providing marginalised students at the school with opportunities to have a say in school matters or be represents on student councils.

• Events at school that promote cultural awareness and diversity.

• Teachers being mindful in the classroom when grouping students or processes for conducting group work.

• Curricula and pedagogy that is supportive of diversity (e.g. appropriate adjustments) and cultural difference (i.e. curricula and pedagogy acknowledges culture).

Exclusion

Exclusion is generally the result of disciplinary processes that result in prolonged absence from school. There are many factors that contribute to an attendance concern as a result of exclusion. Individual student factors may include a student’s social and emotional difficulties; school factors may include the limited resources available to ensure the safety of the student and school community, the schools discipline policy and procedure, pressure from the school community to exclude.

Schools are challenged with meeting the needs of the student and also the school community. The complexity of school exclusion often require schools to step away from conventional behaviour and disciplinary procedures. Schools must first uphold the belief that the student belongs and has a place in the school community. Secondly, schools must believe they have the capacity to support the student (self efficacy). Lastly, schools require expert support, collaborative partnerships and sustainable systems to manage risk and support for the student.

On a final note - School attendance problems are complex. They often do not fit into convenient neat categories. However, schools can begin to unpack the complexities of school attendance problems by narrowing their focus on the possible causes and also maintaining factors that prevent young people from attending school.