Industry News

'More than 50%' of all state school pupils are persistent absentees

Posted on 21st May 2009

For Parents

For Student/Child

For Schools

Discounted goods for you and your child, for school and home

More than one in two students repeatedly plays truant at the country's worst-performing state schools, new figures indicate.

Over half of pupils were classed as serial truants at 19 schools last year, statistics obtained by the Conservatives reveal.

Tory shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said: "It is truly shocking that there are education facilities where more than half of children are repeatedly skipping school.

"We know persistent absenteeism is linked with low levels of literacy."

In total 233,340 children were labelled as persistent absentees between September 2007 and July 2008. A serial absentee is defined as pupil who is off for more than 20 per cent of lessons.

A spokesperson for the National Union of Teachers recently claimed schools do their best to deal with the problem but they cannot address the deep-rooted social problems that lead to truancy.

She added that schools with the freedom to make the curriculum more flexible can help those who refuse to go to school. ADNFCR-921-ID-19182239-ADNFCR