The latest insights report from ImpactEd Group’s Understanding Attendance national research project reveals the impact of demographic and environmental factors on students’ attendance, including family and home environment, relationships and incentives.
New research has identified family and home environment as one of the most impactful environmental factors on attendance, with students’ mindsets regarding the importance of attending school when a little under the weather as a significant, but under-reported, driver of attendance.
The latest insights report from ImpactEd Group’s Understanding Attendance research project demonstrates how demographic factors interact with students’ experiences of the Family and Home Environment, Adult and Peer Relationships, and Incentives and Rewards to impact attendance levels. The findings from the report will support policymakers and educators by informing evidence-based interventions to tackle persistent attendance issues.
The Understanding Attendance project, which is the largest national study of pupil attendance in England, analysed data from more than 30,000 students across 85 primary and secondary schools, with over 2 million data points collected since the project began.
The Family and Home Environment data, which explored the impact of students’ routines, sleep habits and attitudes towards attending school when a little under the weather, was found to be the most important factor affecting attendance – primarily through its interaction with demographic factors. For example, for younger pupils in Year 3, small improvements in this area were linked to a 0.3% increase in attendance, but by Year 12, the same change was associated with a 3.4% increase, suggesting these influences impact older pupils more. Additionally, female students were found to be more affected by the Family and Home Environment than their male peers.
Other key findings included:
- Positive adult relationships in school boosted male student attendance, with attendance improving by 0.51% per one-point increase in positive responses.
- Strong peer relationships are linked to slightly lower attendance for boys, suggesting social influences can sometimes pull them away from school. However, for Pupil Premium students, peer connections boosted attendance by 0.53% per one-point increase in positive responses.
- Attendance rewards were found to be highly effective in more deprived schools, with students who felt their attendance was recognised being almost 25% less likely to have low attendance than peers who did not feel rewarded.
- Pupil Premium status was the strongest risk factor for poor attendance, with students 2.1 times more likely to have concerning absence levels than non-Pupil Premium peers.
- Students with English as an Additional Language (EAL) had 3.1% higher attendance than non-EAL peers.
- Pupils who were both Pupil Premium and EAL had almost identical attendance rates to non-disadvantaged peers, suggesting EAL status may offset some of the negative effects of economic disadvantage.
- The Pupil Premium attendance gap widened in more affluent areas, with disadvantaged pupils 2.7 times more likely to have poor attendance, compared with 2.1 times in deprived areas.
Dr Lauren Bellaera FHEA, Director of Research and Insights at ImpactEd Group and author of this report, said:
“Behind every attendance statistic is a child and a family navigating real challenges. This research shows that attendance isn’t just about school policies, it’s deeply tied to the family and home environment as well as adult and peer relationships in schools. Crucially, it is the interaction between these wider factors and demographic factors that is underpinning attendance – and these are the key drivers that we can influence to support schools, students and their families.”
These latest findings, which were analysed in collaboration with Quick Release, reinforce that pupil attendance is shaped by complex interactions between some of the wider factors related to attendance and demographic factors. This research enables schools, trusts and policymakers to create more targeted, holistic interventions and take tangible steps to meaningfully improve attendance rates.
ImpactEd Group continues to expand its Understanding Attendance initiative, offering subsidised participation to schools and Trusts to support the analysis of attendance drivers in their own settings. Schools and Trusts interested in joining the programme can contact project lead Lucy Preston at lucy.preston@impactedgroup.uk or register their interest here.
