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In all of these cases parents were told at some point that their child was fine, despite them trying to highlight their child’s difficulties, with the focus being on the need for them to improve their child’s attendance rather than on working together to overcome the barriers.
A list of potential attendance barriers would be endless, and very much dependent on any number of other variables including levels of support available. These children may also be vulnerable to bullying.
No blame or shame for children, their
parents or teachers
We have found that generally children will try to attend school if they can, and try until they can’t keep trying. They may feel shame or disappointment in themselves if they don’t. They may feel confused, angry, let down and even traumatised. They miss important experiences and opportunities.
Due to NHS wait times and thresholds for referrals, as well as reduced access to Educational Psychologists, many children are experiencing much later diagnoses, but some are just not receiving necessary reasonable adjustments even when they are.
Parents report feeling judged and blamed for their child’s attendance, including referrals for prosecution or to social services. Most have felt pressured to force their children into school and have regretted doing so. The effect of non- attendance can be very disruptive to family life, with at least one parent being unable to work. They often need support as they are often still unsure what to do which is why some of our work is focussed on peer support for parents, to give them the tools to work with professionals
None of us went into teaching planning to ignore the needs of children. Rather than blaming individuals this is a systemic problem affected by a lack of SEND Training for new teachers or for experienced teachers through CPD, perhaps a limited professional experience of attendance difficulties, and an ever changing, narrowing curriculum, the obvious constraints on time and resources can mean that children do not receive the earlier interventions they need. All too often they are not noticed until they have significantly deteriorated and are in crisis, and the placement may have broken down.
With this in mind the first course of action should not be blame, or shame, but working together to find solutions.
Working together to find solutions
Despite there being no specific government guidance for children experiencing SEND attendance barriers can be found in a number of relevant documents* on which we base our support.
From our experience of children who may be experiencing attendance barriers being described as fine when parents or other staff would say otherwise usually means they don’t get
“Their difficulties need to be acknowledged, understood and communicated”
the help they really need when they need it. Their difficulties need to be acknowledged, understood and communicated to all members of staff working with them, with evidence based support plans. The earlier the better.
This article was written in response to an earlier one originally referring to serial school refusers where although some good points were raised, and a case study with a successful outcome was shared, we felt that it didn’t cover current understanding nor government guidance around barriers to attendance.
We appreciate this opportunity and the invitation to explore these issues in greater detail through this and subsequent articles. We hope to encourage a discussion around the evaluation of good practice and ensure parents, teachers and other professionals are more prepared to work together to find solutions to the often complex school attendance difficulties.
SEN114
senmagazine.co.uk
School attendance
About the authors
Jannine Perryman is a former SEND specialist teacher, and is now a Neurodiversity Coach to children, adolescents, adults, families, schools, students, employers and clinicians. She is the CEO and Founder of ADHD Wise UK, and Neurodiversity Networks CIC.
Louise Parker Engels is a former primary school teacher. She co- founded Define Fine: Parent Peer Support for School Attendance Difficulties with her team to combine their professional and lived experiences of children’s difficulties with school attendance.
Define Fine has produced a guide on understanding and finding solutions for barriers to attendance. https://bit.ly/3sbmdhn