- a coaching perspective
Terms and background
‘School refuser’ is a problematic term. It immediately suggests confrontation. We prefer the wordier but more accurate ‘young people frequently absent from school’. This phrase too fails to include all of the circumstances affecting teenagers, but read on.
In the academic year 2022-23, 22.3% of state school students had an attendance rate of under 90%. They were therefore categorised as Persistent Absentees or PAs, (or placed in the more serious category of severe absentees). This group incorporates children missing one day a fortnight as well as those on school rolls but not attending at all. We can add to this picture the 86000 children being legally home educated as of January 2023, a number which continues to rise rapidly.
Why?
So what is going on in a country where until recently almost everyone agreed that being in school was the best place for a child?
The trend towards higher levels of school absence was visible before 2020. A number of factors were at play, including:
-school budget cuts and the resulting impact upon the quality of educational provision
-specific reductions in the funding available for young people with special educational needs and disabilities
-an increased demand for youth mental health resources created by a more open culture surrounding mental illness (good) together with the increasing complexities and stresses of teenage life (not so good).
These factors were sent into overdrive by the pandemic which further raised levels of anxiety amongst school students and their parents. Long periods of enforced home learning broke the physical link with school for many families. Some children actually enjoyed learning at home and got more done. People began to question in larger numbers than ever before whether the universal expectation to attend school was actually to the benefit of all.
The current position
We are now in a position of conflict between home and school. For the range of reasons highlighted above, many young people are now persistent absentees. Often, parents are struggling to get their child into school and lack strategies to support them in attending. Increasingly parents are looking for ways to legitimately allow their child to learn at home, at least some of the time.
Let’s summarise some of the main scenarios parents and schools face, whilst recognising that every individual circumstance is unique:
- firstly, no child should be absent if they would prefer to be in school. This means doing more to remove the barriers at school and at home which prevent attendance
- then there are those students who don’t want to go to school because they feel they have better alternatives but whose parents want them there. Again looking more deeply at the barriers is essential here
- next, what about those children who are reluctant to attend (at least some of the time)? Their parents support this position. They may not be set up for full time home education but school is not the right place
- at least not every day. This is where we need to be more realistic and creative. At the moment these young people are receiving the worst of all worlds. Pressured to attend school and given limited (if any) support with their studies at home.
At the behest of government, schools have little leeway in how they address this situation. They must enforce the expectation that all students attend, for the whole day, every day. Whilst there might be some flexibility around the margins of this rule to get a child back into lessons, the overall philosophy is set.
In an environment where long term absenteeism is on the increase and is not going to go away, this all or nothing approach on the part of the educational establishment is certainly unimaginative and potentially unhelpful.
How can coaching help?
We don’t expect to see government policies on school attendance to change any time soon. We therefore need to manage the current reality and give young people the best experience and support possible. Coaching helps young people to remove barriers and set goals which they are committed to. It gives them the tools to achieve these goals with ongoing support and guidance from the coach. There are a number of scenarios related to school attendance in which a coaching intervention can be of direct and significant benefit:
- where a child will not go to school but their parents want them to. This may be full on non attendance or more irregular absence. Coaching can help to build a more robust pattern of attendance; it can help ensure that school work is completed at home when the child does not attend. Importantly, coaching can also help to maintain healthy family relationships during what can be a stressful time
- where a child is staying at home with their parents support. Coaching may have a number of benefits here depending upon the circumstances. If the young person is having difficulties with anxiety or self esteem then coaching can provide highly effective support. Where there are issues with organisation and completing academic work, again the coach can help to set targets and monitor progress to ensure work is finished to a high standard
- the coach can help to manage distractions, including phones and social media. This may be a particular issue when the young person is not seeing their friends during the day
- in any scenario, the coach can help to set goals and create a pathway for the future so that the young person remains focussed and optimistic and does not feel isolated
- at Abrial, our coaches are also qualified teachers with recent experience of working in schools. We are expert in the wider context of education and ensure our clients do not miss out on any important information they would be receiving in school.