- Alarming Increase in School Dropouts and Missing Children
- Decline in Council Resources and Challenges in Locating Absent Students
- Government Response and Measures to Address the Crisis
According to data from the Department of Education, 24.700 students dropped out of school at some point during the spring term, and this number is expected to increase by the conclusion of the summer term.
Tens of thousands of students have departed from school, with authorities frequently having no idea where they are.
On a single day in this year’s spring, local authorities in England reported that an estimated 24,700 children were absent from school, a troubling snapshot of the crisis facing schools.
They are classified as Children Missing Education (CME) and include all children of school age who are neither in school nor receiving education elsewhere.
Incredibly, 94,900 children went AWOL at some point during the 2021/22 school year.
Typically, they are children who have moved from one location to another without enrolling in a new school.
The law requires councils to take “all reasonable steps” to locate these children, but many remain missing for extended periods.
The number of council employees in England whose role it is to monitor school absences has decreased by nearly half over the past decade, making it more difficult for many councils to locate children.
In 2013, there were 751 education welfare officers or their equivalents, compared to only 402 this year, a 46% decrease.
This has placed enormous pressure on councils to monitor absent schoolchildren.
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association told, “Councils have been unable to provide as many roles over the past decade due to funding pressures.”
We’ve long protested to the government that councils don’t have the power to keep out-of-school youngsters in school.
“Under the current system, unschooled children are invisible to councils and the services that ensure their safety. It is imperative, therefore, that the government pass legislation mandating a register of children who are not in school, as well as granting councils the authority to meet with children face-to-face.”
The Department of Education responded as follows: “The government is committed to ensuring that all children, particularly the most vulnerable in our society, are safe and have access to an exceptional education”.
We are working with local governments to strengthen out-of-school child support, including volunteer registers.
Nationally, we estimate that there are more than 1,500 FTE local authority attendance staff members, and we remain committed to implementing a mandatory system to ensure that no child falls through the gaps.
The pandemic has caused a countrywide crisis in school absences.
1.7 million pupils miss at least one morning per week. This has increased by 108% since COVID.
Since the epidemic, 125,000 children spend more time outside of school than in it.
In some of the regions with the highest absenteeism rates, the government has established so-called “hubs” for attendance.
It has also implemented attendance “mentors” to assist families and schools in getting children back into the classroom.
