Alarming rates of student absenteeism `strategic education issue of our time'

Concerned about rising student absenteeism post-pandemic, the Thames Valley District school board has created an internal working group to target the problem. The board plans a district-wide campaign designed to create awareness about the issue and improve attendance rates.

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

Persistent absenteeism is defined by Ontario's ministry of education as any student who has missed 10 per cent or more schools days including both excused and unexcused absences.

“Since the pandemic (ended) it's been an a issue regional, provincially, nationally and internationally,” said Kathryn Lambert, the board's manager of professional services.

It becomes a problem because attendance is a “significant indicator of high school graduation,” she said.

”We know graduating high school is a protective factor as an adult in terms of long-term physical, mental health and well-being indicators,” Lambert said.

As well, students with poor attendance are at increased risk of peer conflict or issues, behavioural issues, as well as anxiety and depression, she said.

WHERE IS THE DATA?

In his January 2024 article on post pandemic absenteeism, Paul W. Bennett says while finding Canadian data “requires considerable digging,” raw data on student absenteeism in one school board (Hamilton Wentworth) shows absenteeism rose from three to four per cent in 2020 to between eight and 14 per cent in November of 2022. While Thames Valley school board say they don't have any recent data on its absenteeism problem among their students, one study coming from the United Kingdom found one in five students are chronically absent from school and one in four parents believe it's OK to skip school.

WHAT IS THE LAW?

In Ontario, children age six to 18 must attend school. A person can be excused from school if they are getting instruction elsewhere, they are sick or other unavoidable causes, or adequate transportation is not provided by their school board.

Other reasons included a student being expelled or suspended or absent due to religious holidays.

WHY IT HAPPENED

According to Lambert habits developed during COVID, during periods of remote learning “became normalized.”

Parents and children became used to staying at home and still haven't returned to their pre-pandemic routines.

“When kids are learning remotely, families got out of those habits,” she said. “We're giving caregivers information about the importance of some of these habits to reset that.”

When there are barriers to student's attendance “we problem-solve those barriers,” she said.

“We are working with office staff, vice-principals and principals to ensure we are developing supportive relationships with families to talk about barriers to student attendance.”

IF A CHILD IS CHRONICALLY ABSENT

School staff reach out to the family to offer support and try to plan how to improve the student's attendance, Lambert said.

If needed, the school refers the student to a social worker or attendance counsellor who will continue to support the family and student in addressing barriers to school attendance.

DID YOU KNOW?

If a student misses 15 days a year, by Grade 12 that would add up to missing an entire year of school.

That's one of the messages Thames Valley hopes to get out to parents and guardians through its communication strategy, Lambert says.

“The reason why TVDSB is communicating with families and students about attendance is to provide information about the benefits of attending school,” she said.

The board is using email, newsletters and other media to get the message out about the “importance of resetting (COVID) habits,” she said.

“We really want families to understand the connection between students attending every day and student achievement,” said associate director Riley Culhane. “Sometimes there is a lack of understanding that those missed days accumulate and as a result students miss large portions of learning opportunities.”

THE FALLOUT

“Alarming rates of absenteeism suggest that parents as well as children do not prioritize school attendance to the degree they did a generation ago, when compulsory school attendance was generally accepted by a cross-section of school communities across the socio-economic spectrum,” says Bennett in his article on post-pandemic student absenteeism.

He claims the result will have “dire consequences for the life chances and employability of the pandemic generation.”

And, he calls swaying students and their parents to get back into in the classroom “the strategic education issue of our time.”