Life Based Learning ™
Delivering subject content through nine life themes
School attendance
According to official figures, more than one in five children in England are persistently absent from school, double the rate before the Covid pandemic. It is no surprise then that a newly published report on school attendance uses the term ‘crisis’, or that both main political parties have made school attendance part of their new year messaging. The education secretary says it is her top priority and is promising to expand attendance hubs to support 1,000 more schools as well as the attendance mentor pilot programme. Labour says its plan to tackle the causes of absence include mental health counsellors in schools, free breakfast clubs in primary schools and early speech and language support. But in the current discussions about school attendance there are some very basic questions that are not always being addressed, certainly not directly.
The missing link: Restoring the bond between schools and families is the latest report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to deal with the issue of school attendance. It makes for gloomy reading: the report’s foreword says that “government is yet to grasp the nettle” and makes the point that “the consequences of failing to return children to the classroom will be felt for decades to come”.
The report’s finding that almost three in ten parents (28%) believe that the pandemic has shown it is not essential for children to attend school every day has, not surprisingly, attracted headlines.
Department for Education (DfE) figures show that 22.3% of pupils in England were persistently absent over the last academic year, equating to 1.8 million children. Persistent absence is defined as missing 10% or more days in school. The figures are worse for children on free school meals (37.9%) and those with an education, health and care plan (33.4%).
The CSJ report points out that children in receipt of free school meals are three times more likely to be severely absent than their more affluent classmates, and that, given the strong link between attendance and attainment, the absence crisis is “compounding disadvantage”.
The CSJ has previously called for more to be done to support schools and families in improving attendance, such as the use of attendance mentors. The missing link document focuses more on the relationship between parents and schools, and urges government to prioritise parental engagement. Having said that, the most eye-catching of its recommendations relates to the need for “a right to sport” in schools.
Simultaneously, we urgently need to refresh what schools are offering. Why is the school day so short? Why do we starve so many state school pupils of the benefits of greater sport and enrichment? Engaging and inspiring children beyond the academic will encourage far greater appeal to go to school.
From the foreword to the Centre for Social Justice report
Life-Based Learning and the purpose of education
Many of the ideas that have been put forward by politicians and others – for example to expand opportunities to take part in sport and physical activity – are of course to be applauded. And at a time when mental health services, particularly for young people, are in meltdown, proposals relating to mental health support are especially welcome. It is also important to recognise structural factors that impact on attendance – above all, poverty.
But in many of the discussions about school attendance there are some very basic questions that are not always being addressed, certainly not directly – such questions as: Do children find school worthwhile and beneficial? Does it inspire them? Does it make them happy? Do they see the point of coming to school? Does school prepare them for the future?
Questions like these take us back to a fundamental issue that we have often returned to, not least in 2022 when the Times Education Commission published the final report of its year-long inquiry into Britain’s education system: What is the purpose of education?
Life-Based Learning (LBL) is a bold and imaginative vision for children’s learning. It aims to bring greater meaning to learning, particularly subject learning, by making life itself the primary purpose – and focus – of learning.
It’s a goal that, according to a survey quoted by the Times Education Commission, is shared by many parents. Almost two thirds of parents, it said, think that the education system does not adequately prepare young people for work or life. Parents overwhelmingly prioritise their child’s wellbeing over academic attainment — by a majority of ten to one — and they feel that schools focus too narrowly on exams.
So do we.
Too many children are switched off learning as they struggle to see its relevance. We owe it to them to equip them with the knowledge, skills and values to find health, happiness and fulfilment in the modern world and to better prepare them – as they grow into adulthood – to manage the challenges facing individuals, societies and environments across the planet.
Image at the head of this article by ambermb from Pixabay.
