So it’s that time of year again. Back to School. Uniforms lined up (for some), bags packed (for some), and government ministers out in full force reminding us that “attendance matters.”
As I scrolled social media on Sunday morning, the latest Facebook post by the Department of Education stopped me in my tracks. "This back-to-school season, we’re driving up attendance in schools." It then went on to talk about how persistently absent pupils could earn £10,000 less on average by age 28 compared to those with near-perfect attendance. I would love to see the research that shows this as much as I would like to have a chat with the communications team behind these crazy Back to School campaigns. The word 'could' is certainly interesting in this marketing effort - my guess is that research might show that some pupils who were persistently absent from school are currently earning more than the Education Minister. I'm scratching my head at how anybody might think this kind of message would appeal to more than a handful of parents at most, whilst not also realising it would be royally irritating to tens of thousands of other parents.
I thought the phrase "Back to School" would disappear from my thoughts now that my 18-year-old is officially beyond school age - but here we are. Turns out those three little words hold a lot of trauma - not just for me, but for many families across the country. I didn't know if I would/could carry on writing on my blog after so many years of trudging through the education system - but here we are.
I read the BBC article yesterday - “Minister warns parents on school attendance ahead of new term” - and my heart sank. Same old damaging rhetoric that does nothing to address the real problems in the education system. Is anyone in that Government department listening? While they’re talking in grand statements about attendance rates, my heart is with the thousands of parents like me whose children don’t fit that neat narrative.
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| Photo by Pascal Bullan on Unsplash |
We haven’t chosen absence - we struggle with it. Here’s why this government push on school attendance figures is not only misguided, but actively harmful.
While I understand the importance of school, of education, of routine, FOR SOME… I also know that it’s not that simple. Not for every child. And definitely not for families like ours.
We’re not a “typical” family, if there even is such a thing. Our daughter is autistic, with a PDA profile - and that means mainstream education hasn’t always worked for her in the way it’s supposed to. We’ve had our fair share of ups and downs (and sideways!). Most of those have been documented in our book PDA in the Family, and in various blog posts here: Back to School. So when I hear ministers still talking about tackling the “national scandal” of school absence without any real acknowledgement of why children might be struggling to attend in the first place, I feel completely deflated.
This isn’t about being anti-school. Or lazy parenting. Or not valuing education. Far from it. So many of us want our children to be in school - we’ve tried everything to make it happen. And many of the children want to be included too. But for some children, particularly those who are neurodivergent, school can be an overwhelming and even traumatic place.
The constant push on attendance figures doesn’t address the real issues underneath. Issues that have been described by parents in the Not Fine in School series that was shared on my blog years ago - has anything changed? When I read phrases like “every day of school matters” or “parents need to do more”, I can’t help but feel blamed. Like it’s on us. As if we’re not already doing everything we possibly can to help our children access education in a way that’s actually manageable and meaningful for them.
The rhetoric is damaging - not just to parents, but to our children too. It paints a picture where absence equals failure, but suggesting that it's the children who are failing is not fair. There are children who desperately want to attend school, who are bright and curious and full of potential, but who simply can’t cope with the environment they’re being placed in. It’s not about wilful defiance or “bad behaviour” - it is often about mental health, sensory overload, social anxiety, and in most cases a lack of understanding the individual and no provision of suitable support.
This new Department for Education campaign is a repeat of previous attempts. It's not like we haven't tried to educate them before - it's clear they are not listening. The last time around, at the beginning of 2024, the BBC wrote a similar article titled 'Government school attendance campaign criticised by parents'. Carrie Grant (who, like many of us, is both a parent and an advocate still talking about this issue) described the government's campaign as “tone deaf” back then and reminded them that it’s us, the parents, who are left picking up the pieces when our children are pushed too far. That’s certainly been true in our house more than once.
And this isn’t just about our family. I hear similar stories time and time again – from other parents of autistic children, PDA children, children with ADHD, anxiety, trauma backgrounds. Families being threatened with fines, or facing social care referrals, simply because the education settings on offer are not suitable for their children. Fining is pointless, and it’s not working.
I'm going to be watching the Government's education statistics to see how the figures that tell us about the increase in parents 'choosing' to home educate their children develop. "As at census date in autumn 2024, local authorities reported 111,700 children in elective home education (EHE). This is an increase from an estimated 92,000 in the previous autumn term." If school was the better option, surely more families would choose that?
And now I've just come across the Children's Commissioner's post where the same old rhetoric is also being doubled down on - 'Why attendance remains my priority'. It includes the following paragraph that sends a chill down my spine:
"That must include the creation of a Unique ID for every child – something I have called for urgently and repeatedly, and which is being taken forward through the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill in this Parliament. Done well, it will prevent any child falling through the gaps in services and becoming invisible to the professionals responsible for protecting them."
Whilst the intention of ensuring no child is invisible could be applauded, I think many of us SEND parents who have been around a long time will focus on the words 'Done well,' and know that it's a stretch to imagine any of this situation being handled well by the current team. There are many issues with the proposed Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill - I'd recommend following Michael Charles on Facebook for a fuller picture on that.
Today I've also woken up to the news that plans for standardised EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans) have now been tossed aside by the Labour government (read more in this article by Special Needs Jungle). Eleven years ago, when we took part in the pilot for EHCPs, we were one of many who scratched our heads at how this legal document had not been standardised in format across the country. Could this be the first sign of intention to remove EHCPs wherever possible? Although I sometimes refer to our experiences of having an EHCP as a farce, I also readily acknowledge that it has given our daughter some protection and the thought of other families no longer having that in the future worries me on their behalf. Carrie Grant's article about the scrapping of EHCPs hits the nail on the head.
The Government has decided that fines are the way to punish non-attendance. The thing is, you can’t fine your way to inclusion. You can’t marketing campaign your way into solving the complex, deep-rooted problems in the education system. What’s needed is investment - in training, in properly funded SEN support, in alternative provisions, in understanding. We need schools that are flexible, staff who are trained in neurodiversity, and a system that sees every child, not just the ones who tick boxes.
My daughter has spent large amounts of time out of the classroom, and she's also been back in - with the right support, at the right time, in the right environment. We’ve worked hard - all of us. And just recently, I shared a little celebration over on the blog: PDA and Education Update: Success! Our daughter passed exams - something we never imagined possible during the toughest school years. That’s what support can do. That’s what believing in our young people can lead to.
But how much more might have been achieved if she had had more time with the right people? And let's not forget, it wasn't an easy path to get there. But we got there because someone finally listened. And that’s what I want for other families too.
So maybe attendance matters for some. But children matter more. Their mental health, their wellbeing, their ability to access education in a way that actually works for them - that matters. Until we have a system that recognises the reasons why children are struggling, attendance campaigns like this one will continue to miss the point.
I’ll keep speaking up, in my own small way, because I know there are thousands of other families out there feeling the same way. We see you. We hear you. And you’re not alone.
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