‘Cultural shift’ since pandemic causing attendance crisis in English schools

Teachers say parents are now more reluctant to send children to school or willing to let them stay home

Headteachers and school leaders are becoming increasingly worried that a “cultural shift” in attitudes is causing a crisis in attendance, with more pupils absent than before the Covid pandemic.

Teachers say parents are now more reluctant to send children to school and more resistant to efforts to encourage attendance, with school leaders in England warning that it may take years to repair national attendance figures.