Parents must stop being selfish and set a good example when it comes to school absences - Jayne Dowle

In addition, the highest rates of unauthorised persistent absence are in the North of England, where on average one in ten schoolchildren were considered persistently absent for unauthorised reasons.

Whilst the South West lays claim to the questionable crown of highest overall persistent absence, at a rate of 22.2 per cent, Yorkshire and The Humber are only a tiny fraction behind, at 22.1 per cent. Meanwhile Outer London recorded the lowest overall persistent absence rate of 18.7 per cent. The big question is ‘why?’.

The words ‘levelling up’ are barely uttered these days, but it absolutely stands to reason that this corrosive situation is not helping towns, villages and cities in the North fight on an equal economic playing field. Today’s absent child is all too easily tomorrow’s benefit claimant.

As Anne Longfield, executive chair of the Centre for Young Lives and former Children's Commissioner for England, says, “simply, threatening parents with fines is not working for many families and not reducing severe absence rates”.

This is where the really difficult part of the conversation comes in. There’s a different story behind every single case of school absence, but there are also connecting threads.

Especially since the Covid pandemic, when the so-called ‘contract’ between school and home was severed almost to breaking point, too many parents now show a concerning lack of respect for authority. Between 2015-2016 and 2023-24, the overall school absence rate rose in England by 57 per cent. I see it all over Facebook at the end of every school holiday.

Whilst most families of my acquaintance post sweet photographs of their holiday activities and proudly offer ‘back to school’ pictures, a growing number seem to think that the end of the school holidays means the start of their own.

I know taking your kids out of school for trips abroad during term-time is so much cheaper, but really, is it necessary to be so blatant about it, sharing with the world the sight of five-year-olds sitting in some bar, or messing about in a swimming pool, when they should be back at their desks? Such holidaying at their own leisure seems to have become a badge of honour for some parents and a rite of passage for their offspring.

And of course, there are untold numbers of children who are nowhere near as fortunate, who may never have been on a bus, let alone an aeroplane. I’m talking about the children whose shadowy lives are never shared on social media, who live behind closed curtains. Sometimes they do so under the banner of ‘home education’, an insult to the many dedicated parents who diligently teach their own children at home.

Who speaks up for these isolated children? Are some of the most vulnerable even known to the usual sources of contact, such as GPs and social workers? Schools themselves too often lack resources to investigate further; under-funded services don’t always join the dots, neighbours dare not ask questions.

The government must make it their business to find out. Nothing short of a national task force should be set up, headed by recognised independent experts – not ministerial cronies – to launch a strategy to find honest answers to the school absence emergency.

Clearly, fines for school absence are no longer the one and only answer. Whilst the holidaying parents may calculate the savings, cough up and consider it a decent deal – nothwithstanding what their children are missing out on in terms of learning – what of the parents who ignore the letters from school, and don’t open the door when anyone calls to check on the welfare of their children?

What too of the young carers, the children with health problems?

Seeing school as an option rather than mandatory impacts hugely on the individual life chances of these youngsters, leading to few if any exam passes, poor prospects for employment and risky behaviours, including criminality, sexual promiscuity, young pregnancy and addictions. It is also part of a bigger picture, with immense potential to impact on stable society and economic growth.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, who makes much of her own challenging start to life in the North East, must tackle the corrosion without delay, give schools and support services the resources they need to investigate persistent absence forthwith, and get that taskforce underway. Meanwhile, parents must stop being so selfish, set a good example and put their children before themselves.