Children missing more days of school

The level of school absence has grown since the pandemic and is showing little sign of improvement, according to new research.

Both the average number of days lost per student and the proportion of students with chronic absenteeism have grown.

New research published by the ESRI on Monday used administrative data to look at patterns of non-attendance across Irish schools and found that school absence is more prevalent in schools serving disadvantaged communities.

The authors said there is “no evidence that the passage of time since the pandemic” is likely to solve attendance issues.

Between 2022/23 and 2023/24, there has been a modest improvement in attendance in primary schools, but a significant group of schools has seen an increase over the same timeframe.

A large minority of post-primary schools are actually seeing a worsening situation and the authors state it is concerning that although disadvantaged schools have improved more in absolute terms, in relative terms they are experiencing a poorer trend due to starting from a worse position.

This means that schools with the worst outcomes are also not recovering as well, potentially indicating that inequalities in attendance at the school level could even widen in the future.

The authors also said there is some evidence that Ireland is experiencing a particularly heightened increase in truancy post-pandemic, and called for large-scale interventions to support
attendance.

Emer Smyth, co-author of the report, told the Press Association that said poverty can be a barrier to engaging with school.

Addressing the socio-economic backdrop to the reports finding, she said: “We need to be looking at measures to assist child poverty, to deal with mental health issues among children, but also among their parents and addiction issues.”

Ms Smyth also said the high levels of chronic absences create a resourcing challenge for personnel tasked with dealing with the issue.

Anna Moya, co-author of the report, said the greater absences among schools serving socio-economically disadvantaged children is “concerning”, as it is likely to contribute to inequality in later life.

“It is particularly worrying that attendance in primary and post-primary Deis schools is not recovering as well as non-Deis schools in the post-Covid period.

“This points to the need for further support for these schools, potentially through the proposed Deis plus model.”

The report points to other research which found that multi-tiered interventions involving multidisciplinary teams and promoting interaction with parents, children and schools can be especially successful on improving attendance, while promoting a healthy and stimulating school environment can also put children at ease.

Primary schools in the Deis programme had higher rates of absenteeism, with 35% of students in Urban Band 1 schools missing 20 or more days in 2023/204 compared to 17% in non-Deis schools.

The research, produced in partnership with Tusla Education Support Service, also found that schools in areas of higher levels of socioeconomic deprivation have worse attendance.

Very high rates of absence were found in special schools while there was no significant difference found between single-sex and coeducational primary schools.

Higher levels of absence are found in multi-denominational schools than in Catholic or minority faith schools, while Irish-medium schools have lower levels of absence than English-medium schools.

Similar trends were found in post-primary schools, with absence greater at Deis schools and more disadvantaged areas.

In 2023/24, 28% of students in DEIS schools missed 20 or more days, compared to 19% for non-Deis schools.

Absence levels are much lower in schools in more affluent areas, at 15%, compared with school in disadvantaged areas, at 26%.

Boys’ post-primary schools are found to have lower rates of chronic absence than coeducational schools.

Both primary and post-primary schools saw a modest reduction in the proportion of chronically absent students and in the average number of days lost between 2022/23 and 2023/24.

The authors identified shortcomings in the data with around a quarter of schools not submitting absentee figures amid administrative burden, and limits on linking absences with the the socio-economic circumstances of individuals students.