HC Deb 25 July 1974 vol 877 cc532-4W
Mr. Greville Janner

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he can yet give the results of the survey of absence from school on 17th January 1974.

Mr. Prentice

All maintained middle and secondary schools in England and Wales were asked to complete a return for Thursday 17th January 1974 showing the number of pupils who were absent for all or part of the day, and the numbers for whose absence the school had been able to find no legitimate reason by the following Wednesday. These figures are given in the attached table, which sets out the national rates of attendance and unjustified absence. These show that:

  1. i. out of 3,886,000 pupils in all middle and secondary schools in England and Wales, some 384,400 or 9.9 per cent. of all pupils, were absent on 17th January;
  2. ii. schools were able to find no legitimate reason for the absence of 87,400 of these pupils—2.2 per cent. of all pupils and 22.7 of those absent;
  3. iii. the highest percentage of absence and of unjustified absence were among those aged 15 at 31st August 1973–14.1 per cent. and 4.8 per cent.;
  4. iv. unjustified absences among girls as a percentage of all girls were only 0.1 per cent. higher on average than unjustified absences among boys, but a greater percentage of girls were regarded as being absent for legitimate reasons; just over 1 per cent. more as a percentage of all girls on average, 2 per cent. more in the age group 15–17 and 3 per cent. more at 18.

Although there are no grounds for complacency in these figures, which give a picture only of one day in January, they do not indicate that the overall level of unjustified absence from school is as high as is sometimes suggested.

Work is continuing on the analysis of the information and it is our intention that this, together with related work on pupil behaviour, shall be discussed with the local authority and teacher associations in the autumn.

ABSENCES FROM MAINTAINED MIDDLE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS ON 17TH JANUARY 1974
ABSENCES AS A PERCENTAGE OF ALL PUPILS
England and Wales
Age at 31st August 1973
19 and over 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 and under Total Number of pupils (thousands)
All Absentees
Boys … 13.1 11.1 7.3 9.7 13.1 10.6 9.2 7.4 9.3 185.3
Girls … 14.6 14.5 9.4 11.8 15.1 11.9 10.1 8.0 10.5 199.1
Boys and Girls … 13.5 12.2 8.3 10.8 14.1 11.2 9.6 7.7 9.9 384.4
Unjustified Absentees
Boys … 1.2 1.2 0.9 2.7 4.8 2.8 1.9 1.1 2.2 44.3
Girls … — 1.4 1.0 2.8 4.8 2.9 2.0 1.1 2.3 43.1
Boys and Girls … 0.9 1.3 1.0 2.7 4.8 2.9 1.9 1.1 2.2 87.4
Number of pupils (thousands)
Boys … 0.4 7.7 49.8 88.9 330.8 342.0 350.2 815.7 1,985.6
Girls … 0.2 4.0 47.3 88.3 316.7 328.3 332.7 783.0 1,900.4
Boys and Girls … 0.6 11.7 97.1 177.2 647.5 670.3 682.9 1,598.7 3,886.0