ESC asks P&R for more cash to tackle school absenteeism

It has asked Policy & Resources to include additional funding in next year’s budget in response to student attendance falling to 86% – far below the minimum expectation of 95%.

Education president Paul Montague told the States Assembly yesterday that absence had become a ‘significant blight’ on schools.

‘We cannot continue with these extremely high rates of absence at school,’ he said.

‘Over the past few years we have seen a rise in lack of attendance at schools and it has a significant impact not only on those individuals, but also on their classmates and on teacher workload.

‘It is an absolute drain on educational progress in all our settings.’

Three years ago Education, Sport & Culture secured a six-figure sum to help deal with the effects of the Covid pandemic, before which attendance in secondary schools was just above 93%.

It now wants additional funding to look into the reasons why absenteeism is continuing to rise, and how missing pupils can be encouraged to get back to school.

Deputy Montague said the problem could not be tackled by schools alone and called for support from other States committees and the wider community.

Health president George Oswald revealed that the multi-agency support hub, known as MASH, which works with children at risk, was now receiving 200 referrals each month.

‘Referrals are on course to double this year compared to pre-pandemic levels. Absence from school is rarely quoted as a sole indication for referral, but such absence is an almost inevitable concomitant and co-contributor of the need for a MASH referral,' he said.

Deputy Oswald feared that absence in schools was even higher than the published figures indicated because pupils attending ‘the bare minimum of alternative provision’ were recorded as having 100% attendance.

Deputy Montague believed the reasons behind the growing problem were complex and not always well understood.

He indicated that a new approach was needed to make children more resilient.

‘We talk a big game about resilience. We speak about it in classrooms. But you can’t talk someone into being resilient,’ he said.

‘Youngsters become resilient only by experiencing hardship in life. We need to find a way of getting our students to bounce back from hardship.

‘It may be that we as a society have become too risk-averse with our young people.’

All committees’ cash limits for next year will be proposed by P&R when it releases its draft 2026 Budget in the first week of October.