Teachers are increasingly sceptical about hardline approaches to tackling pupil absence, with new research suggesting many believe the attendance crisis is being driven by wider disengagement rather than simply poor behaviour.
A three-year research programme by education charity Impetus and Public First found that some teachers question the message that every day in school matters, while many believe fines and other enforcement measures can undermine relationships with families.
The research, *A Crisis of Disengagement: Listening to, and learning from, teachers on school attendance*, involved 62 secondary school staff working in schools serving disadvantaged communities.
One teacher told researchers they would consider taking their own child out of school for a cheaper term-time holiday if they were not a teacher. Another said: “If it’s the only holiday you get to experience in a five-year period, I think that’s probably worth more than a week in school in January.”
Staff also raised concerns about the impact of penalty notices on relationships with parents. One senior leader said issuing a fine could leave a parent angry and damage the relationship with a family that the school was trying to re-engage.
The research found that teachers were more concerned about sustained disengagement from education than occasional absences. Staff described managing attendance as “relentless”, while pointing to unmet special educational needs, gaps in mental health provision and shortages of social workers as factors making the problem harder for schools to address.
Impetus said persistent absence is more than two-and-a-half times as common among disadvantaged pupils and warned that current rates of persistent and severe absence could ultimately translate into more than 600,000 missed GCSEs.
Susannah Hardyman, CEO of Impetus, said: “Teachers are on the frontline of the attendance crisis, but they cannot solve it alone.”
She said the findings pointed to a “wider crisis of disengagement” driven by pressures often beyond schools’ control, and called for greater emphasis on belonging, relationships and tackling the barriers preventing young people from attending school.
The findings come amid continued concern about absence levels, with the Guardian reporting that nearly one in five children is missing at least 10% of school. A record 492,825 penalty notices for unauthorised absence were issued to parents in England in 2024-25.
