Public Engagement

Research briefs

Dräger, J, Klein, M., & Sosu, E. (2023) Trajectories of School Absences and Pupils’ Academic Performance. Research Brief. University of Strathclyde

Key Points:

• Two-thirds of pupils have consistently low absence trajectories, while one-third demonstrate some form of moderate to high absence trajectories over the compulsory schooling period.
• More than one-fourth of pupils have consistently moderate authorised absences.
• Three smaller groups have moderately increased unauthorised, strongly increasing authorised, and strongly increasing unauthorised absences.
• All identified absence trajectories have a detrimental impact on GCSE achievement in year 11, with increasing unauthorised absences having the most harmful impact.
• While extreme levels of unauthorised absences are most detrimental, a narrow policy focus on this absentee group will miss many students with other absence trajectories, whose impact is also harmful to achievement.
• The findings emphasise the need for a nuanced approach to combating absenteeism, including tailored support for students in different absence trajectory groups.

Klein, M., Sosu, E., & Lillywhite, E. (2022) School Absenteeism and Educational Attainment - Evidence from the Scottish Longitudinal Study. Research Brief. University of Strathclyde

Key Points:

• School absences are detrimental to educational attainment in national exams at the end of compulsory (S4) and post-compulsory schooling (S5/S6) in Scotland.
• Truancy, sickness-related absences, and absences due to exceptional domestic circumstances each have a unique negative impact on educational attainment at both stages.
• Our findings suggest three additional pathways through which absence may affect academic achievement: a behavioural pathway, a health pathway, and a psychosocial pathway.
• Our research challenges previous assumptions that unexcused absences are more harmful than excused absences and calls for equal emphasis on tackling all forms of school absence.
• Research and interventions need to focus on mitigating the harmful consequences of school absenteeism, considering the reason for absence.

Sosu, E., & Klein, M. (2021). Socioeconomic disparities in school absenteeism after the first wave of COVID-19 school closures in Scotland. Research Brief. University of Strathclyde

Key Points:

• Student absences after the first wave of Covid-19 school closures were higher than in previous years
• Higher rates of absenteeism after school lockdown were due to COVID-19 related reasons
• Overall, non-Covid-19-related absence rates are similar to trends observed in earlier years
• Socioeconomic inequalities in school absenteeism were higher post-lockdown than in previous years
• This increase can be attributed to rising disparities in school absenteeism due to Covid19-related and non-Covid-19 reasons
• The rise in socioeconomic inequality in nonCovid-19related absenteeism was not only due to higher absence rates among students from the most deprived areas but also due to lower absence rates among students from the least deprived areas
• Addressing the disproportionate short- and long-term impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable children needs to be at the forefront of policy agenda
• We need greater monitoring and evaluation of:
  • inequalities in home learning during the second round of school closures
  • inequalities in academic achievement after school reopening
  • policy interventions designed to mitigate the consequences of Covid-19 on achievement gaps.

Klein, M., Goodfellow, C., Dare, S., & Sosu, E. (2020). Socioeconomic Inequalities in School Attendance in Scotland: Research Brief. University of Strathclyde.

Key points:

• Absenteeism from school is socially stratified and being absent from school is likely an important contributor to the attainment gap in Scotland.
• All dimensions of socioeconomic background increased the risk of overall absenteeism from school.
• Pupils from socially rented households, and households with no qualifications are the most likely to be absent from school, and these factors are consistently associated with all forms of absenteeism (overall, sickness based, truancy, temporary exclusion) except family holidays.
• The association between socioeconomic background and absenteeism did not vary across gender or place of residence (urban vs rural).
• It is likely that COVID-19 related school closures will exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities in school attendance.
• There is an urgent need to address socioeconomic inequalities in school absenteeism.

Conference presentations

2023

“Does the impact of pupil absences depend on their timing?” was presented at the Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies (SLLS) Annual Conference, Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich (October 2023)

“School absenteeism trajectories and their consequences for achievement” was presented at the British Educational Research ASsociation (BERA) Conference, Aston University (September 2023)

“School absenteeism trajectories and their consequences for achievement” was presented at the European Conference for Educational Research (ECER), University of Glasgow (August 2023)

“School absenteeism trajectories and their consequences for achievement” was presented at Children of the noughties: a conference to celebrate 21 years of the Millennium Cohort Study, London (June 2023)

2022

“School absenteeism and academic achievement – Heterogeneity across type of absence and family socioeconomic status” was presented at the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) Conference in Ayr, Scotland (November 2022).

“Family socioeconomic status and academic achievement: the mediating role of school absenteeism” was presented at the International Network for School Attendance (INSA) Conference in Egmont aan Zee, Netherlands (October 2022).

“School absences in secondary schooling and adolescents’ post-school destinations – Evidence from the Scottish Longitudinal Study” was presented at the Transitions in Youth (TIY) Conference in Naples, Italy (September 2022).

“School absences in secondary schooling and adolescents’ post-school destinations – Evidence from the Scottish Longitudinal Study” was presented at the European Association for Research on Adolescence (EARA) Conference in Dublin, Ireland (August 2022).

2021

“Family background and academic achievement: An investigation into the mediating role of school absenteeism” was presented at the European Consortium for Sociological Research (ECSR) Annual Conference 2021.

“Are school leavers’ post-school destinations associated with their school attendance during secondary education? was presented at the Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse (SLLS) Annual Conference 2021.

“Family socioeconomic status and educational achievement: Examining the mediating role of school absenteeism” was presented at the BPS Psychology of Education Conference 2021.

“School absenteeism and academic achievement: Is missing out on school more detrimental to students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds?” was presented at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) Annual Conference 2021.

“School absenteeism and academic achievement: Is missing out on school more detrimental for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds” was presented at the ISA RC28 Spring Meeting 2021 in Turku (virtual conference).

2019

“School absenteeism and educational attainment: Is missing out on school more detrimental to students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds? was presented at the Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies (SLLS) Annual Conference 2019 in Potsdam, Germany.

“Who is missing out on school? Exploring socioeconomic inequalities in school absenteeism” was presented at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) 2019 in Hamburg, Germany.

Knowledge Exchange Events

2023

We organised the event “Absenteeism and exclusion research - What next?” for policymakers and practitioners together with Prof Gillean McCluskey and Dr Annie Taylor (University of Edinburgh) from the Excluded Lives project (06 June).

We provided the Keynote “Determinants and Consequences of School Absenteeism” at the Attendance Symposium, a professional learning event for educators, aimed at addressing school attendance problems to improve life outcomes for children and young people in Scotland (27 March). The event was organised by the Forth Valley and West Lothian Regional Improvement Collaborative:

2022

Together with Poverty Alliance and General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), we organised the Webinar School absences and the poverty-related attainment gap

2021

Together with Dr Markus Gehrsitz (University of Strathclyde), we organised the Strathclyde Engage Event [Data Can Tell Us ‘What Works’ in Education: Insights from Quantitative Education Research] (https://www.engage.strath.ac.uk/event/804).

2019

We presented first results from our project at the Engage Strathclyde event Who is Missing Out on School? The Role of School Absenteeism in the Poverty-Related Attainment Gap.

Videos & podcasts

2022

Moderated by Prof Donald Christie, this webinar presents research findings on the role of school absences in the poverty related attainment gap in Scotland, and the implications for policy and practice.

2021

Prof Claire Cassidy (University of Strathclyde) interviewed us for the School of Education’s podcast series “Meet an academic”

We published a podcast summarising our first and second research brief as part of Education Scotland’s Signposting Equity Issue 12.

Parliamentary evidence

2023

We submitted Written Evidence to the UK Parliament Education Committee on persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils.

Media & blogs

2023

Our views on data reporting in Scotland have been discussed in the TES article Absence is a UK-wide problem. Here’s how to tackle it.

We have written the blog post Persistent absence from school is a growing threat to children’s education highlighting the increase of absence rates during the pandemic and summarising our research on the determinatns and consequences of school absenteeism.

2022

Our paper published in Review of Education was discussed in the Newsbreak (Philippines) article More than 40% of Peoria Public School students were chronically absent in 2021.

Our paper published in Children and Youth Services Review was cited in the blog post School attendance problems are complex, and our solutions need to be as well.

Our paper published in AERA Open was discussed in TES article Authorised school absence ‘equally detrimental’ to pupils.

2021

Our research brief “Socioeconomic Inequalities in School Attendance in Scotland” was discussed in the report The Poverty-related Attainment Gap: A review of the evidence by Poverty Alliance and the Robertson Trust.

Our research brief “Socioeconomic disparities in school absenteeism after the first wave of COVID-19 school closures in Scotland” was discussed in The Herald article Agenda: Tackling the disadvantage faced by young people locked in poverty.

2020

Our project is discussed in the GTCS publication Teaching Scotland (Issue 86).

We published the blog post School Attendance and the Poverty-related Attainment Gap for the Strathclyde Institute of Education summarising our results findings.

Invited Talks

2023

PI and Co-I presented a summary of our absenteeism research in the Scottish Government Educational Research Seminar Series (May 2023). We also provided a policy brief for dissemination among civil servants.

2022

The PI presented our research in the Scottish Quantitative Education Workshop at the University of Glasgow

2021

The PI was invited to give a talk in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow and presented a summary of our current project findings.