Parents in Wales are keeping their children off school because they can’t afford the uniform, meals and transport, headteachers have warned. The cost of living crisis is not the main reason for stubborn low school attendance since classrooms re opened after pandemic closures, but is adding to the problem, a Senedd committee has been told.
More than a quarter of children in Wales are now eligible for free school meals with a 1% rise in the last year and one in 10 children are missing school - both up on pre pandemic levels. Headteachers have warned of the huge negative impact on young people's life chances, health and wellbeing.
Giving evidence on school absence to the Senedd’s Children Young People and Education Committee Laura Doel, Director of the National Association of Headteachers Cymru, said schools have reported parents not sending their children in because they cannot afford to. Her comments came as Education Minister Jeremy Miles said schools are not doing enough to tackle the poverty attainment gap inequality.
Responding to questions from Ken Skates MS for Clwyd South about economic pressure on parents she said: “Some of our members are saying parents are struggling with the cost of living crisis and struggling to buy uniform and transport. It’s not the sole reason (for absence) - anxiety and wellbeing are the top reasons for absence - but this (cost) has to be a contributing factor.”
The CYPE committee is carrying out an inquiry into the school attendance crisis which headteachers have warned is the number one issue in education at the moment. Latest Welsh Government data published on June 15 shows absence now running at 13% - well above pre-pandemic levels.
Laura Doel and Eithne Hughes, Director of the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru told the committee that the Welsh Government must put tackling pupil absence at the top of the education agenda.
“We need to make learner absence a priority for this government and it needs to be the sole focus when it comes to talking about education. Anything else must take second place,” said Ms Doel.
“Unless children are in school nothing else is going to have an impact. They need to be in school in front of their teachers, with their peers, getting the support they need. “We would urge the government to look at focusing attention on addressing this problem (pupil absence) and working in partnership with schools, local authorities and other agencies to get these learners back in the classroom and for the moment put aside any plans for education reform.”
She pointed out £2m was spent last term on a pilot for Welsh Government plans to extend the school day. This was at a time when headteachers are strapped for cash for educational support officers and other work to encourage children back into the classroom.
Eithne Hughes told the committee that school non-attendance affects the whole of society now and in the future. School leaders have reported some of their absent pupils getting caught up in County Lines drugs gangs and other crime .
“Members tell us that police are at their doors after weekends about children who are not in attendance,” she said.
Giving evidence on the scale of the problem the ASCL Cymru and NAHT officers warned absence is now a vast problem which schools cannot tackle alone. Some children have never returned to their classrooms since the pandemic began, others are persistently absence and others occasionally or often - there is no simple reason, pattern or solution, they said.
Reasons include mental health problems, anxiety, losing the habit of going to school and now, the cost of living. Ms Hughes said a concerted effort involving local education authorities, social services and government was needed to find ways to bring pupils back.
Fining families for not sending their children to school - which was re-introduced earlier this year after being paused during the pandemic - must be a last resort, Ms Doel and Ms Hughes told AMs on the committee . Schools need adequate funding for education support workers to help encourage rather than threaten children and families.
There is also too much variation between council areas on when interventions are triggered.
Laura Doel warned that continuing online and blended learning must not be viewed as an option. She said providing online work online during classroom closures had been necessary but put a huge strain on schools and was not a long term option that could continue.
“We can’t say there have been no benefits from remote learning. But we don’t want to be victims of our own success and for people to think online learning is now an expectation.
“It has been a huge strain on the workforce. It’s not a sustainable way of teaching and learning. We need to make sure that messaging from all quarters on this is that the best place for learners is in the classroom.
“You can’t have an in out option education system for school. School is where you should be. In the classroom is where you should be.”
She described a “juggernaut of reform” from Welsh Government when the focus should start on getting children in front of their teachers.
The committee was told that when asked for reasons pupils gave for being off school nearly half of NAHT Cymru members 35% said mental health concerns, 24% anxiety, 13% had got unused to coming in an 7% had been impacted by bereavement or illness during the pandemic.
Also giving evidence Children’s Commissioner Rocio Cifuentes said being persistently off school was a health and safeguarding issue. She warned that fining parents risked them removing their children from school entirely. The Coronavirus and Me survey by the Children’s Commissioner’s office showed 55% of 15 year-olds reported not feeling confident about their schooling, she told the committee.
The huge number of children off school and eligible for free school meals
Tens of thousands of children and teenagers are still missing school, latest data from the Welsh Government, published on June 15, shows. The number eligible for free school meals has also risen in the last year.
In the week June 6-10:
- An average 87% of pupils went to school up from 86.3% the previous week.
- 0.5% of pupils were off for a known Covid related reason, up from 0.4% compared to the previous week
- An average of 0.4% of all primary pupils and 0.7% of all secondary pupils were absent for a known Covid related reason
- The percentage of boys attending school was higher the percentage of girls attending school. This differs from the pattern pre-Covid when boys have had lower attendance rates.
- Amongst statutory school age pupils over the week of 6 to 10 June 2022, the percentage of pupils in attendance was highest for pupils in Year 3 (92%) and lowest for pupils in Year 11 (61%) due to exams.
- The most common reason for sessions missed was illness other than Covid , with 3.3% of sessions missed for this reason.
- Pupils entitled to free school meals were less likely to attend school, with the gap being an average of 4.5 percentage points.
- 25.3% of pupils (121,472 pupils) have missed more than a week of face-to-face learning for a known Covid related reason since 6 September 2021 (5.5 days or more) and 83.7% of pupils (402,326 pupils) have missed more than a week for any reason since 6 September 2021.
The latest school census for Wales, published in May shows the number of children eligible for free school meals has risen. Of the 380,139 stautory age pupils aged 5 to 15, 26.9% were known to be eligible for free school meals or transitionally protected at February 2022 up from 25.2% in April 2021
As of February 2022 There were 470,244 pupils in local authority maintained schools, down 4,480 compared with April 2021
