View From Stormont: Fixing Northern Ireland's chronic school absence problem

The latest Department for Education statistics lay bare the extent of an issue schools and families are already very familiar with.

Across primary, secondary and special schools in NI, 100,000 children have chronic or severe chronic absence, meaning they're missing at least 10 per cent of the time.

The startling figures also show that there were 1,000,000 unauthorised half day absences at primary level last academic year, while in 2017/18 there were only 467,671.

It is also plain to see that holidays during term time are on the rise, but aside from that, it is difficult to identify where many of the pupils have gone, as this is a complicated issue which varies on a case by case basis.

We understand though, that "school based anxiety" is a huge post-Covid problem.

Some of these children and teens will be marked as "no reason given", while some will be recorded as off sick.

Children who will not come to school due to "school based anxiety" are often referred to "school refusers", though this is not deemed an appropriate term.

View From Stormont has heard from several families of children in this situation who chose not to speak on camera.

One teenage boy who was absent for a whole year said that "if I had to go to school, I wouldn't want to live".

Another girl who struggled to attend school in Year 8 said that nobody understands because "I'm the one living in my body with my panic".

One parent of a eight-year-old boy said she wishes for "small accommodations, not chauffeur driven cars".

Educational psychologist Elaine McCrisken works with lots of children in this situation.

Elaine, who calls her business Strive NI, said that both the kids and their parents feel misunderstood.

"They are trying to express that they desperately want to get out the door to school, they want to go to school and be the same as their peers, they are not choosing to stay home because they cannot be bothered," she said.

"They are desperately trying to go to school, but school just isn't the right place for them right now.

"Every child is an individual, and it will be for individual reasons as to why that might be - there may be difficulties in peer relationships, there may be sensory overload, maybe their needs aren't being met in school."

She said that some well intentioned initiatives like a card for children to present to take breaks, or a reduced timetable may work in some cases.

However, a lot of work has to be done before getting children back to this place, including addressing the root cause of the anxiety experienced relating to school and understanding triggers in the school environment to put strategies in place.

Ms McCrisken also said that a group for parents has proved extremely popular, with many of them being faced with the same questions, namely - 'why don't you just send your child to school anyway?'

NI Commissioner for Children and Young People is Chris Quinn.

"A lot of the time, we don't know the facts, we don't have the data, we don't know the reasons," he said.

"We do know that young people are presenting with more complex needs. Each of those children that we are talking about will have different needs, and we need to get away from ploughing money into systems that don't work, and put resources into early intervention, and in particular, supporting vulnerable families and vulnerable children.

"What we're hearing is that it can be a real struggle for families to get the help that they need, it can take them to be very persistent until they get a result."

Mr Quinn said he also has questions around vacancies within youth work and around the Department's vision for EOTAS, which is Education Other Than at School.

He insisted that attendance must be a top priority for the Education Minister, but also said he is an optimist and believes that "where there is a will there is a way, and we can turn the curve".

There are programmes working to pull attendance up, and push absence down.

At Abbey Community College, education and youth work blend together to support pupils who have at-risk attendance.

Some of their lessons take place in Monkstown Boxing Club, where there is a classroom metres away from the boxing rings and gym.

Fiona Cromie is the Principal of Abbey Community College, and Amy Stewart is the 'In Your Corner Project Coordinator'.

"A number of pupils are identified to go on the programme at the end of year 11," said Ms Cromie.

"These are usually pupils for whom attendance is a big barrier to learning, and there can be other factors that mean they are best supported in a smaller setting," she said, explaining that groups will come to the boxing club along with their English and Maths teachers, and then they enjoy physical sessions with boxing coaches.

"It's more of a youth work approach, they all have a mentor attached to them so that they are mentored throughout the week.

"The pupils who attend here are likely to be pupils who were not predicted to get 5 A* to C grades at GCSE, but over the course of the programme since 2016, we've got to the point where they are leaving with 5 A* to C qualifications."

Ms Cromie said that similar schools to hers have average attendance of 87 per cent, meaning five weeks of school missed.

"If we look at the cohort that have just left our programme last year, on average their attendance was 65 per cent in year 11. When they were ready to leave this programme at the end of year 12, the average attendance was 90 per cent," she said.

Dale Heaney works for the Department for Education's Tackling Educational Disadvantage Team.

"We remain concerned by just how serious this issue is," he said.

"We're getting the word out to schools, teachers, children and young people and to families that this is an issue we all need to think about very carefully and do our best to address those things," adding that one of the things his team does is promoting the positive impact on achievement that attendance can have.

Mr Heaney said the Department is working on the "Miss School Miss Out" strategy which is likely to go out for public consultation in the next few months.

"We're keen to hear parents' and families' views on that as well as teachers of course.

"There will be resources within that to signpost parents towards resources that they may not have seen before...

"And I would certainly encourage anyone looking for any support to contact the Department or the Education Authority and we will be more than happy to help."