Researchers are set to examine the impact that “authoritative” behaviour policies have on attendance rates in English secondary schools.
The study is one of three projects being launched by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and Youth Endowment Fund (YEF), looking at the impact of different school practices on attendance and exclusions.
As well as the research into behaviour, to be conducted by UCL and NatCen, a second project will consider whether employing attendance and family liaison officers reduces the likelihood of an at-risk pupil being absent from school.
And a third project will explore the impact of different approaches to internal alternative provision in secondary schools on exclusion rates and persistent absence.
Separately, two new EEF-supported trials are also being launched today that secondary schools can sign up to. Both are aimed at improving attendance and reducing exclusions.
Improving school attendance
The first will involve 100 secondary schools taking part in a trial of the Behavioural Insights Team’s BITUP programme, which sends personalised text messages to parents and carers to update them on the number of days of school their child has missed over the last half-term.
A smaller trial of BITUP boosted rates of good attendance by 4 percentage points.
And the second trial, known as the Grassroots programme, will support “well-connected” students to positively influence their classmates’ attitudes and behaviours; for example, through social media content and posters.
In this programme, researchers will select a “seed group” of around 30 students in each school, and trained research assistants will work with the groups through fortnightly sessions. The groups and assistants will identify how student interactions in their school could be improved, and think about what they might do to encourage their peers to have positive interactions.
Professor Becky Francis, chief executive of the EEF, said: “We know that pupils who are persistently absent from school are less like to achieve well academically. Improving attendance is also a real and immediate priority for schools.
“But we just don’t know enough about the best ways to improve attendance. Teachers deserve a much clearer picture of how best to support their pupils who are persistently absent.
“Our new research projects with the Youth Endowment Fund will help fill some of these evidence gaps”.
Schools can sign up to the trials here.
