WFH parents 'contribute to rise in Friday school absences', says Education Secretary Gillian Keegan

Keegan spoke to The Times about the issue, in which she said that 50,000 more school pupils took absences on Fridays compare to the start of the week. She added that schools were feeling the pressure as WFH parents whisk their children out of school on Friday to take them on long weekend holidays.

The Education Secretary said that it is her “top priority” to curb the rise in absences, with Fridays in particular seeing a 20% rise compared to other days and Friday absences seeing a 25% uptick since pre-Covid lockdown levels.

Keegan said in the newspaper: “We are very clear — it is unacceptable to take a deliberate decision to take your child out of school... There are still major challenges with data showing unauthorised holiday absence increasing by 25 per cent and that there are regularly 50,000 more pupil absences on a Fridays compared with Mondays, which could be linked with many parents working from home.” It is believed that a rise in youth mental health issues may also contribute to the absences, while some argue that expectations of full attendance have been weakened since the Covid lockdown. In a bid to cut absence levels back to pre-Covid numbers, Keegan has said that children with milder illness symptoms such as runny noses should still be expected to attend school. She also suggested that those with mild anxiety should be expected to attend as normal.

Data from the government showed that primary schools appear to have the biggest absence gap, indicating that it may be decision made by the parents that are pulling more kids out of schools. Keegan has said that the data has helped her to target support for parents and schools, but warned that other methods could be introduced if level do not fall.

She said: “Where this support-first approach does not work, we have increased the minimum fine by £20 up to £80. Telling parents that even a day off mattered, she said: “Every day a child is absent means they will miss on average five to six lessons — time they will never get back.”