Parents no longer believe that school is necessary every day as teacher strikes and Covid have caused a “seismic shift” in attitudes, research suggests.
Significant numbers are taking their children on holiday during term time and now see such breaks as socially acceptable.
There are growing concerns about the increasing number of children missing school in England — particularly those who are persistently absent — with the head of Ofsted saying that the social contract between schools and families has been broken.
Parental attitudes to full-time school attendance will now take a “monumental” effort to change, according to the study by the consultancy Public First.
It highlights findings from focus groups with parents and concludes: “Pre-Covid, ensuring your child’s daily attendance at school was seen as a fundamental element of good parenting.
Parents no longer believe that school is necessary every day as teacher strikes and Covid have caused a “seismic shift” in attitudes, research suggests.
Significant numbers are taking their children on holiday during term time and now see such breaks as socially acceptable.
There are growing concerns about the increasing number of children missing school in England — particularly those who are persistently absent — with the head of Ofsted saying that the social contract between schools and families has been broken.
Parental attitudes to full-time school attendance will now take a “monumental” effort to change, according to the study by the consultancy Public First.
It highlights findings from focus groups with parents and concludes: “Pre-Covid, ensuring your child’s daily attendance at school was seen as a fundamental element of good parenting.
Faith, 31, a mother of four who was helped by SHS, told The Times she had struggled to get her oldest child, now aged ten, to school each day as he was extremely clingy to her after lockdown. On days when he did attend, she would sometimes end up waiting in the car outside as the school would often ring to say there had been incidents.
After receiving help from the school and from the charity, she managed to establish a routine and he is now settled. Faith, who lives in London, is now an advocate for SHS.
However, the Public First research found that other families were shunning school because they no longer believed that 100 per cent attendance was necessary.
“Parents agreed that every school day could not possibly be that important, given that so much time had been lost to lockdowns and strikes,” it said.
Source: Covid and teacher strikes ‘made skipping school socially acceptable’ (thetimes.co.uk)
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