Gillian Keegan: WFH parents fuelling ‘unacceptable’ rise in Friday school absences

Parents working from home have fuelled an “unacceptable” rise in pupils skipping school on Fridays, according to the Education Secretary.

Gillian Keegan claims that 50,000 more pupils are absent at the end of the week compared with Mondays. She said parents routinely pull their children out of school for holidays and extended weekends.

School absences jump by 20 per cent on Fridays while unauthorised holidays are up 25 per cent on pre-Covid levels, government figures show.

Ms Keegan said boosting attendance was her “top priority” after recent figures showed a record 157,000 pupils are now missing more than 50 per cent of their lessons. Around 1.7 million pupils are also said to miss more than 10 per cent, double pre-pandemic levels.

Writing in The Times, Keegan said “the Covid pandemic has had a major impact on school attendance”, adding that there are “still too many children whose attendance hasn’t yet recovered”.

Lockdowns during the pandemic are believed to have weakened the social expectation that children ought to attend school every day. Around 30 per cent of parents said that the pandemic showed it is not essential for children to attend school every day, according to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).

A rise in mental-health problems among young people is also thought to have contributed to absences, the CSJ said.

‘Major challenges regarding unauthorised holiday absence’

Ms Keegan wants to restore pre-pandemic social norms and emphasised “it is unacceptable to take a deliberate decision to take your child out of school”.

Children with runny noses and minor illnesses are no longer expected to stay at home, the Education Secretary said, stressing that those with mild anxiety should also attend school.

Absence rates increased from 4.7 per cent in 2019 to 7.6 per cent in 2021 and currently stand at 7 per cent.

Ms Keegan said: “There are still major challenges with data showing unauthorised holiday absence increasing by 25 per cent and that there are regularly 50,000 more pupil absences on Fridays compared with Mondays, which could be linked with many parents working from home.”

Overall absence rates are 6.6 per cent on Wednesdays, rising to 7.8 per cent on Fridays, according to daily data for the current academic year.

The trend is more pronounced for unauthorised absences, which are 20 per cent higher on Fridays compared with Wednesdays.

The gap is largest for primary school pupils, suggesting parents are driving absenteeism. Primary pupils are 21 per cent more likely to miss school on Fridays and 24 per cent more likely to be absent without a reason.

Ms Keegan argued that detailed data means targeting problem areas with attendance mentors is possible.

She said: “Where this support-first approach does not work, we have increased the minimum fine by £20 up to £80.

“Every day a child is absent means they will miss on average five to six lessons – time they will never get back”.