Pupil wellbeing and persistent absence: Understanding the views of pupils, parents and carers, and school staff
23 July 2026
Improving school attendance rates is currently a top priority for schools and the Government. Despite considerable efforts from schools and the Government to get pupils back to school, absence rates in England remain above pre-pandemic levels.
The problem is especially apparent in secondary schools where the average absence rate was 8.4 per cent in the 2024/2025 academic year compared with 5.5 per cent in 2018/2019.
This decline in school attendance has coincided with reported declines in pupil wellbeing. Consequently, there has been increasing debate about whether declining pupil wellbeing may be contributing to rising levels of persistent absence. However, the causes of persistent absence are varied and complex, and the nature of its relationship with pupil wellbeing—particularly in the post-pandemic context—remains insufficiently understood.
The current study forms part of a wider research programme that seeks to address this critical evidence gap by deepening understanding of the complex drivers of persistent absence and informing the development of more effective strategies to support pupils’ return to school.
In this initial study, we undertook 10 school case studies to gather the views of school staff, pupils, and parents and carers.
These included a combination of the following activities:
- Interview with school senior leader
- Interviews with pupils who had previously been persistently absent but had since returned to school
- Interviews with parents and carers of persistently absent pupils who had returned to school
- Focus group with pupils in Years 8-10 who had not been persistently absent
There aims of the case studies were:
- To explore views about the nature of the relationship between pupil wellbeing and school attendance.
- To understand other factors that may have affected school attendance since the Covid-19 pandemic.
- To investigate views about the range of support approaches offered by schools, and their perceived effectiveness in enabling persistently absent pupils to re-engage with mainstream secondary education.
Key Findings
- Pupil wellbeing was felt to be a major factor in declining school attendance rates, with online bullying linked to increased social media use suggested as a key reason for this decline.
- Attendance is typically shaped by interconnected factors at the pupil, school, family and local context levels, with parents and carers indicating that the increasing cost of holidays outside of school term-time, and declining pupil mental health and wellbeing are key drivers.
- Pupils perceived poor wellbeing and mental health as legitimate reasons for absence, as they felt the pressures of school could negatively affect their wellbeing.
- The relationship between pupil wellbeing and attendance was seen as bi-directional. School absence could support wellbeing in the short-term but could also contribute to a reinforcing cycle of poor wellbeing and non-attendance, and lead to longer-term barriers to attendance and re-engagement.
- Schools employed a wide range of strategies to support attendance including curriculum and timetable adjustments, pastoral support, specialist provision and whole school approaches and processes.
- Parents, carers and pupils identified relational aspects of support, rather than specific interventions or strategies, as having the greatest impact.
- There were mixed views about government strategies for improving attendance, with fines for non-attendance generally considered to be unhelpful.
- Schools are investing significant time and resources into improving attendance including efforts to overcome barriers that are often beyond their direct control.