Has school become optional?
I spent much of Spring Break reading over learning assessments (formerly known as report cards) and have noticed a few trends some of which have made me reflect on attendance in schools and the ever increasingly important role school continues to play in a democratic society.
Since the pandemic, schools have fully reopened at full capacity. But recent trends have me wondering whether or not the philosophy of schooling has changed for parents? Have schools begun to feel optional? Are parents feeling as if school is something that their children can opt out of?
As the pandemic waved through communities, we had no choice but to close schools, ‘pivot’ and quickly create programs and modes of delivery for our students. This was the time terms such as ‘learning loss’, ‘losing gains and the significant focus on mental health became part of the educational narrative. Since then, we are fully aware that some students haven’t made the gains that we would normally see if their academic lives hadn’t been interrupted.
And, since then, we have reacted and are being innovative and creative to react to the needs we see in our students. We have created district wide literacy and numeracy initiatives to react to the trends we are seeing academically. As well, as we are seeing increases in lack of self-regulation, and higher rates of anxiety and depression, districts and communities are being innovative in the response to specific student needs.
And, in the midst of all of this, there seems to be a share of students missing school. Before the pandemic we had about 10 % of students chronically absent from school. The challenge we are seeing is that we don’t really keep track of chronic absences, and the best information can be found my clicking on the link below. But what we do know is anecdotally, if you ask school Principals, you will hear the common refrain that chronic absences are an issue, making it challenging to do our work; and that is improving student outcomes.
So why is this a problem? Absenteeism correlates directly with a child’s ability to achieve academically as well as to learn about self-regulation, how to form relationships with other students, how to relate with adults and how to ‘be’ in a community in general. And what is the why? What is causing absenteeism?
The most universally shared reason for absenteeism is illness. With covid, we knew that students needed to stay home from school. But currently, it appears parents are even more acutely aware of the responsibility to not send their children to school even if they have a sniffle or mild cough. This means students are away more often than they may have been otherwise.
Mental Health and anxiety are also an issue. We know that students struggled with anxiety and depression during the pandemic. When schools were closed and compartmentalized during the pandemic, a quiet message was being sent that schools were not safe places (for that time). What was once a constant (school) having a message that it was not a safe place to be during the pandemic.
With the change to remote work and how parents work, we have also seen that it is a bit ‘easier’ for students to be able to stay at home.
The pandemic seems to have normalized that there is an element of ‘optionality’ when it comes to school attendance. Prior to Spring break, we saw many students take time away from school to be on holidays with their families. This means a decrease in cost as families do not need to travel during peak travel times. So, if a good deal comes along, families who can afford this option, take advantage of a quick deal, and enjoy pre-holiday holidays. There are gains here to be made that are not;’ solely financial; children of families who can access trips that are not during peak holiday travel times, may experience enriching learning opportunities during the times they are away from school.
Regardless of the reason for absenteeism, we see the impact it has on student learning. Absenteeism helps explain why so many students may not be catching up from learning losses that occurred during the pandemic. If school is hard, then it makes it even more difficult for a child to come to school. So, the result is that a child falls further behind when absent and the cycle continues.
The other piece to keep in mind is that chronic absenteeism may also affect the rest of the class. If students are away, the teacher must sometimes adjust their curriculum so that students who are away do not miss out.
The ‘soft skills’ that students learn when at school are also affected by absenteeism. Students also learn what they need to do as adults in school. Difficult conversations, relationship building, friendship making, problem solving all happen at school. Absenteeism does not give the students the opportunities needed to practice these lifelong skills and to navigate difficult growing opportunities.
So, now that we know the ‘why, we need to figure out that ‘what. How do we fix this?
Constant communication with parents helps.
Tutoring might help to be the intermediary when a child has been off.
Home visits from school or district staff might help support families.
And above all, we need to make sure we share with families all the valuable reasons to be at school
Did we somehow sever the trust of the public when we shut down the schools? Was the relaxed policy about grading and attendance that happened as a result of the pandemic made a cultural shift for families?
The pandemic revealed a lot of beautifies and flaws of the school system, (ability to pivot quickly, diversity of programming) but have we had the ability to catch up with the needs of our students.
At the end of the day, schools play a crucial role in our society. Schools are and should always be, the pillars in the community. Connection, social emotional learning, academics, physical fitness, and health and so much more are what students learn by coming to school. Lack of attendance means our students are missing so many opportunities.
More information can be found at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/school-absence-data-1.7156254