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Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment has been made of the causal links between absence from school and attainment at the level of (a) individual pupils, (b) schools and (c) local education authorities. [174718] Mr. Ivan Lewis :[holding reply 20 May 2004]: The information is as follows: (a) The Department has recently commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research to carry out an analysis of data to identify the links between individual pupils' attendance at school and their attainment in examinations. The report is expected in the summer of 2004. (b) Analysis of school level data for the 2002/3 academic year indicates that there is a correlation between attendance and attainment. For example, in schools with absence levels of 6.5 per cent. or lower, an average of 74.3 per cent. of pupils achieved five or more A*-C grades in GCSE examinations. However, the average fell to 26.7 per cent. in schools where absence levels exceeded 11 per cent. (c) The data also reveal a general correlation at local education authority level with attainment dropping as absence levels increase. Most authorities with absence levels of 7.0 per cent. or less have, on average, over 60 per cent. of pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades. In those authorities with absence levels exceeding 10 per cent., on average, less than 45 per cent. of pupils achieve five or more A*-C GCSE grades.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

174718; 421 c1533W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Local education authorities Pupils Standards Schools Truancy

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk