The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is calling for urgent action
to tackle severe school absence as new Government figures
released today show that the number of so-called “ghost-children”
has returned to record highs.
The latest data, released by the Department of Education, reveals
that in Spring term 2023, 140,000 pupils were severely absent,
meaning they missed at least 50 per cent of their lessons. This
has more than doubled since before the pandemic, with an
additional 80,000 pupils now severely absent compared to Autumn
term 2019.
The data also show that the attainment gap between disadvantaged
students and their peers has reached its highest level in over a
decade. Given that children on Free School Meals are three times
more likely to be severely absent than their more affluent
classmates, crisis levels of severe absence will further entrench
post-pandemic disparities.
Attendance is critical to academic attainment and future life
chances. Young people with a track record of severe absence are
vastly over-represented in the cohort of those not in employment,
education or training (NEET) while the CSJ’s research has also
found that persistently absent pupils are around three times more
likely than their peers to go on to commit a crime within two
years of leaving school.
, Senior Education Researcher
at the Centre for Social Justice, said:
“This is a shocking step backwards in the fight to get
severely absent kids back to school.
The Education Secretary has said that tacking school
attendance is her top priority, but we need urgent action
starting with the national rollout of 2,000 attendance
mentors to provide tailored support
to children and families to address the underlying barriers to
attendance.”
The new data also reveals a decrease in persistent absence for
Spring term 2023, with nearly 1.5 million children persistently
absent, down from 1.7 million in Autumn term 2022, although the
numbers are still eye-wateringly high. This means one in five
children missed at least 10 per cent of their school time.
