'Improving Attendance: Understanding the Issues' includes a number of recommendations to prevent missed learning opportunities in Scottish schools'

Education Scotland has released a new report to understand the current barriers and challenges which influence school attendance and has made a number of recommendations to prevent missed learning opportunities in Scottish schools.

Improving attendance: Understanding the Issues explores the current factors that influence non-attendance and identifies support or interventions for schools, children and young people and their families, where required.

For the report, attainment advisors contacted all 32 local authorities in Scotland to gauge insight into where improvements in attendance had been made in primary, secondary and special schools from June 2022 to June 2023.

This rapid research review samples data from 14 local authorities and 18 schools to gain a deeper understanding of the issues related to attendance. It also shares examples of where practice is improving attendance.

Findings show that particular groups are more vulnerable to non-attendance, including pupils impacted by poverty, those with additional support needs, secondary-aged pupils and young people from gypsy and traveller communities.

There is also significant variations across Scotland in how data around attendance is used.

As a result of the report, Education Scotland has set out a list of five actions for consideration, including carefully monitoring strategic plans for improving attendance, or developing a plan where one is not in place. Education Scotland will also work closely with local authorities to improve how they track and monitor attendance in schools.

In addition, the report recommends Education Scotland and Scottish Government collaborate with the wider system to bring coherence to the work on improving attendance, ensuring that children and young people’s views are at the centre of refreshed approaches.

Jenny Gilruth, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, supports the report’s recommendations, confirming that Education Scotland will work closely with all local authorities to tackle non-attendance in schools.

Gillian Hamilton, Interim Chief Executive of Education Scotland, said: “There is system-wide concern about non-attendance in schools, particularly since the pandemic, so we want this report to highlight how we, as a system, can support improvement in attendance.

“Work on this report was carried out between September and October 2023 and was initiated to allow the findings to be fed back into the system quickly to support ongoing work on attendance throughout 2023-24.

“Education Scotland will take forward the recommended actions, working in partnership with local authorities and Scottish Government, to put strategic plans in place to support attendance.”

One of the case studies in the report is from Allan’s Primary School in Stirling

In late 2021, the school allocated some of its Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) to implement a walking bus and breakfast club. The aim of the initiative was to support children and families within the school community and to improve attendance and engagement at school.

Attendance figures rose to 94 per cent in 2022-2023, from 92.1% in 2021-2022, with the average attendance for children living in SIMD decile 1 now at 95.6 per cent.