As schools return for a new academic year, experts have been taking a closer look at what strategies and interventions could be used to make a difference
Their new study has reviewed and analysed evidence from 61 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The research, which has just been published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, focused on studies including pupils of primary or secondary school age, their parents, guardians or teachers.
And they say that parents can play a key role. Their analysis showed parental engagement and mentoring interventions were the most consistently effective, particularly among younger age groups, producing small improvements in attendance.
Teaching social and emotional skills, behavioural interventions, and those which target high-risk pupils also showed some positive effects on attendance, but as there were fewer trials of these types of interventions, it is harder to be certain of their impact.
The review highlights a need for more UK-based trials to take place around this topic to help inform policy and address the current downward trends in school attendance.
Senior author on the review Professor Ann John, from Swansea University Medical School, said: “Persistent absence impacts children’s life chances. It’s an issue that disproportionately affects disadvantaged children compounding existing differences in how well pupils do at school. The start of a new school year brings renewed attention to how we can address it.
“Our findings strengthen the evidence that improving attendance requires approaches which respond to the complex causes of school absence, rather than relying on a single solution.
“In particular, working closely with parents and providing consistent, individual mentoring type support can make a difference. The priority now is to build on this evidence and understand how these approaches can be used effectively across our schools.”
Because there are so many reasons behind the absences, the researchers believe a one-size-fits-all approach would fail to respond to the needs of different students.
However, they say that using parental engagement interventions could be a beneficial large-scale option, due to the effectiveness and relative ease of scaling this kind of intervention up to a national level.
This evidence review was proposed by Professor John and the Dyfodol programme from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in response to the Welsh Government identifying school attendance and absence as a priority area.