Research School Network: Attending to attendance: new research on changing parental attitudes to attendance in schools The first in our series on Learning Behaviours looks at attendance. How might changing parental attitudes impact our approach?

We know the importance of high-quality teaching.

Consistently great teaching can make a huge difference to to all pupils, and in particular to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

But let’s be blunt: no matter how good our teaching is, if pupils are not in the classroom or attend inconsistently, the benefits will be reduced.

Changing attitudes

According to a recent analysis of a representative sample of 300 schools’ Pupil Premium strategy documents, 75% of schools in England say poor attendance is a challenge affecting their socio-economically disadvantaged pupils’ academic achievement.

Attendance is complex and the reasons for poor attendance can be difficult to unpack, but the reason for these issues could partly be down to changing attitudes to school attendance following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sobering new research from Public First shares the findings from focus groups of parents around the country, and considers how their attitudes to school attendance have changed.

The report highlights a number of findings, including:

• Covid has caused a seismic shift in parental attitudes to school attendance
• Sanctions relating to attendance are often seen as both irrelevant and antagonistic
• It is no longer the case that every day matters – at least from the perspective of parents
• Parents generally considered their children’s attendance to be very good (even if the school would disagree) and felt that any absence was for very good reason
• School level attendance systems feel increasingly draconian, and undermine the relationship between school and families

What does this mean for schools?

The evidence around attendance is limited. An EEF review into attendance interventions concluded that the overall quality of evidence is weak, and that more research is required.

From the above paper, it would seem that many of the tools often used by schools, such as sanctions for poor attendance, rewards for good attendance and communicating the importance of every single day at school, are no longer hitting the mark.

But with many of the above factors reported by parents relating to communication, it could be time to re-think our the way we correspond with parents about attendance, and research evidence provides a good starting point when considering how we might do this.

What does the evidence say?

EEF’s ​‘Working with Parents to Support Children’s Learning’ guidance report contains four actionable recommendations for working with parents, with one of these focused on communication.

The report suggests that well-designed school communications can be effective for improving attendance, with examples include weekly texts sent from school to parents, and well crafted letters. Messages are likely to be more effective if they are personalised, linked to learning and promote positive interactions, e.g. celebrating success.

It suggests that this communication should be two-way: consulting with parents about how they can be involved is likely to be valuable, and increases the effectiveness of home-school relationships. School communications may be particularly important for engaging some parents who could play an important role but may have less contact with school.

In a blog linked to the findings of this report, Stephen Tierney outlined an approach to communicating with parents taken in one Blackpool school which resulted in improved attendance in key target groups.

No-one is naive enough to suggest that improved communication is sufficient to tackle the changing attitudes to school attendance. Attendance has always been a complex issue, and is even more complex since the partial school closures related to Covid-19. But it provides a starting point, and is something well worth school leaders considering as we look to tackle this emerging issue.