Four new evaluations of programmes and approaches designed to improve attendance and prevent persistent absence from school

Today the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) have published four new studies, commissioned through their partnership to build the evidence base on improving attendance and reducing persistent absence in schools:

• A study exploring the impact of Attendance and Family Liaison Officers found that, on average, employing an Attendance and/​or Family Liaison Officer did not in itself lead to a meaningful improvement in persistent absence. This may reflect the significant variation in how schools define these roles and what they expect of them.
  • Interviews with schools that had not employed an Attendance and/​or Family Liaison Officer suggested they were often still carrying out similar tasks through other staff. The findings suggest that improving attendance is less about specific roles or structures, and more about the quality of relationships, culture, resourcing, and day-to-day practice across the school.
• An evaluation of whether ​‘embedded’ or ​‘parallel’ internal provision (tailored or standardised in-school support) for pupils at risk of exclusion or persistent absence in mainstream schools was more effective was unable to draw firm conclusions’ regarding difference of impact between the approaches.
  • Schools in the ​‘embedded’ support group typically delivered tailored, longer-term support to a larger number of students while they remained with their ​‘mainstream’ classes.
  • Schools in the ​‘parallel’ support group tended to provide more standardised, short-term provision to fewer students who were sperate from their ​‘mainstream’ class.

• A pilot of the United Against Bullying+ programme, which combines a whole-school anti-bullying approach with targeted support for pupils most at-risk of perpetrating and experiencing bullying. Staff and pupils reported improved awareness and understanding of bullying, and participating schools demonstrated changes to their whole-school anti-bullying approaches, practice, and strategies. However, there was limited evidence of change to bullying behaviours or attendance.
• A pilot of short-term managed intervention centres, five-week off-site placements for pupils at risk of exclusion using trauma-informed approaches. It found the programme showed promise, but struggled to integrate into school’s everyday practices and policies.

This research is part of the EEF and the YEF’s joint commitment to build the evidence base on how to improve attendance and reduce exclusions. This goal is one building block of the EEF’s mission to break the link between family income and educational attainment and the YEF’s mission to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence.

Following these findings, the EEF is encouraging schools to take an evidence-based approach to improving attendance in their context. Drawing on previous research, the EEF are recommending that schools:

• Communicate proactively with families. This can be effective for improving attendance, particularly when it is personalised and positive. For example, previous EEF research found sending text message reminders was a small, low-cost way to make a difference
• Build an inclusive culture as a foundation for all, supplementing with targeted support. Making sure pupils feel seen, understood, and safe is a crucial starting point for supporting attendance, especially for more vulnerable students.
• Individualise targeted support, based on strong knowledge of pupils. Focusing on understanding specific barriers in pupil’s lives and offering support based on what they need to succeed in your school’s context can be the best approach. Research suggests careful communication about such support is important to avoid stigmatisation.