Schools are to be assigned specific minimum attendance goals as part of a strategy to make up for learning setbacks caused by the pandemic. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is set to introduce a roadmap for all schools to enhance efforts in aiding students’ return to classrooms.
Approximately one-third of schools are still struggling to enhance their attendance rates. Starting this month, each school will receive AI-powered targets for improving attendance to ensure that students are present and prepared for academic success.
These attendance improvement targets, known as the attendance baseline improvement expectation (ABIE), will be tailored to each school’s unique circumstances, taking into account factors such as location, student needs, and deprivation levels. Schools will be benchmarked against similar schools to track progress, with the targets not being disclosed to Ofsted for formal evaluation.
Rather than being used for accountability purposes, performance against these targets will guide the allocation of support, including through Regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams. In line with this initiative, 36 new Attendance and Behaviour Hubs are being launched to provide direct one-on-one assistance to students.
However, teaching unions have expressed reservations about the added pressure that new targets may place on schools already facing challenges. Phillipson emphasized the importance of school attendance in fostering children’s opportunities and success, urging all schools to contribute to boosting attendance levels beyond pre-pandemic standards.
Before the pandemic, the overall absence rate stood at 4.7%, rising to 7.6% in 2021/22. The number of persistently absent students, missing more than 10% of school days, has nearly doubled since the pandemic. While the Labour party has overseen improvements, aiming to return to pre-pandemic levels, school leaders’ unions have highlighted the need for practical resources and community support to address attendance challenges effectively.
The General Secretaries of school leaders’ unions have called for a deeper understanding of the realities schools face, emphasizing the importance of providing dedicated school attendance officers to assist families and address barriers to attendance. They argue that setting individual targets may add undue pressure on schools already grappling with limited resources and high expectations without effectively resolving underlying issues.
In conclusion, the move to set individual attendance targets for schools aims to address the attendance crisis exacerbated by the pandemic, but concerns have been raised about the potential strain on schools and the need for comprehensive support mechanisms beyond setting targets.