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Supporting attendance is a perennial challenge in education. It’s one that has come into sharper focus since the pandemic and was most recently highlighted in the government’s White Paper. Persistent absence continues to disproportionately affect disadvantaged pupils, making it a priority area for the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).

That’s why we partnered with the Youth Endowment Fund on a long-term research programme to address gaps in the evidence base and better understand what works to improve attendance and reduce exclusions.

This programme has included evidence reviews and a range of new research projects, from pilots of anti-bullying programmes to studies examining the impact of dedicated attendance officers.

We’ve recently published from several of these projects. They don’t offer decisive evidence about what steps to take. But we know this is a pressing and immediate issue for schools.

So, looking at the overall evidence picture, what can we say?

Start by building a whole-school culture of belonging and safety

Effective attendance strategies begin with a strong universal foundation. Building a culture of belonging and safety is critical.

For example, in our pilot of a whole-school anti-bullying programme, approaches that combined universal pupil workshops with staff training and policy development led to increased awareness and understanding of bullying among both pupils and staff.

Staff also reported greater confidence in addressing bullying. Pupils showed improved short-term understanding following the workshops, and schools made clear progress in strengthening their policies and practices. These findings give us some further insights into how to create environments where pupils feel safe and included.

Deliver targeted support that’s individualised

The evidence reinforces that the drivers of absence are complex and highly individual. There is no single intervention that works for all pupils. For example, our new research into internal alternative provision found no clear difference in impact between different models.

Schools are using a wide range of approaches, but the key appears to be how support is delivered, particularly the quality of relationships and the extent to which provision is tailored to individual need.

Develop a holistic understanding of pupils and families

Accurately diagnosing the reasons behind absence is essential for effective support. This requires schools to build a nuanced, holistic understanding of pupils’ circumstances, including barriers beyond the classroom. Without this, even well-designed interventions are unlikely to succeed.

One of the new studies was a pilot of short-term managed intervention centres - five-week, off-site placements for pupils at risk of exclusion that used trauma-informed approaches. Our research found that this programme showed promise, but it was a struggle to integrate it into schools’ everyday practices and policies.

Communicate proactively with families

Well-designed communications with families can be effective for improving attendance and supporting positive relationships through two-way communication. We know that school communication with parents is likely to be more effective if it is personalised, linked to learning, framed positively and promotes parent efficacy and partnership with the school. Effective communication considers frequency, timing, audience and potential barriers such as inaccessible language and professional jargon.

Simple, low-cost strategies can play a valuable role. Our previous research found that sending text messages to parents led to a small but meaningful improvement in attendance. While not a standalone solution, this kind of approach is easy to implement and can form part of a broader comms strategy.

Dedicated attendance officers are unlikely to lead to improvements in themselves.

A study exploring the impact of attendance officers and/or family liaison officers found that, on average, employing such a role did not in itself lead to a meaningful improvement in persistent absence.

However, interviews with schools showed that these roles were used in a variety of ways and could have impact where they prioritised executive and strategic tasks, such as undertaking home visits, addressing barriers to attendance and designing policy and strategies to manage attendance.

Taken together, the findings suggest that improving attendance is less about specific roles or structures and more about the quality of relationships, culture, resourcing and day-to-day practice across the school.

No single solution

It is a challenge to be evidence-led in an area where evidence is still emerging, but the problem is immediate.

What the evidence does show is that progress will be best made through a process, not an individualised programme. There are many ways to create the culture and practice that can improve attendance, above and beyond individual interventions or staff roles.

There’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution, so individual approaches are the best place to start.

Emily Yeomans is director of research at the Education Endowment Foundation

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