. Nearly two million of England's nine million pupils are failing to attend school regularly, according to its analysis of the latest official figures. This includes 1.67 million children classified by the Department for Education (DfE) as 'persistently absent' during the autumn term of 2021, an increase of 82 per cent from the previous year. It also takes into account the 81,000 who are home educated which the report notes is an 'alarming' 34 per cent higher than before the pandemic. 'In some areas, the total number of children in home education more than doubled,' the CSJ found. 'At present, half of all children taught at home were found to have begun their retreat from the classroom during lockdowns.' Surge in families withdrawing children The report's authors carried out a series of in-depth interviews with local authorities about why there has been a surge in families withdrawing their children from school following the pandemic. They were told that some children were "anxious" about returning to school after lockdown and that low-income families were more likely to opt for home education. Researchers also found that many home-educated children have previously had behaviour or attendance issues in the classroom. One local authority told the CSJ that they had recorded between 800 and 900 home-educated pupils pre-pandemic, and this figure had now risen to between 1,300 and 1,400, while another relayed how its numbers had 'close to trebled'. The report also notes the long-term damage that persistent absence - defined by the DfE as children who miss more than ten per cent of school - can do to a child's life chances. Children who have been pers){kind=link}
Nearly two million in England failing to attend school regularly while study authors call rise in home education ‘alarming’
A fifth of all children have been “missing” from school since the pandemic, a major report has found.
There has been a “dramatic increase” in the number of youngsters being home educated driven by parents pulling their children out of school following lockdown, according to a new study by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).
Nearly two million of England’s nine million pupils are failing to attend school regularly, according to its analysis of the latest official figures.
This includes 1.67 million children classified by the Department for Education (DfE) as “persistently absent” during the autumn term of 2021, an increase of 82 per cent from the previous year.