Boring lessons linked to truancy

Pupils are more likely to miss lessons if they are 'boring'

When lessons are interesting pupils are less likely to play truant from school, suggests research into attendance.

A report from watchdog Ofsted says the higher the quality of teaching, the better the rate of attendance.

The snapshot survey carried out in the last school year at 31 secondary schools in England found an increase in unauthorised absences.

It also says increases in unauthorised absences could be caused by a change in how absenteeism figures are recorded.

Tackling absenteeism has been a longstanding problem for the government - with figures released earlier this month showing that there only been limited progress.

The Ofsted report examined ways of reducing unauthorised absences and found that legal threats and telephoning students' homes had been effective.

It says that automated phone calls, which "relentlessly" send messages to parents, have also been a successful tactic.

But it says that for the most persistent truants any of these measures were not particularly successful in changing behaviour.

Secondary schools with high quality teaching and learning were found to have the best levels of attendance.

In order to secure good attendance, strong and determined leadership is crucial Christine Gilbert, Ofsted chief inspector

Strong leadership and management also had a positive effect on attendance along with a curriculum that met the needs of pupils.

But the report noted that the rise in truancy levels could be partly explained by the different ways in which schools authorise absence.

Some schools would mark a pupil who arrived late as absent if they did not accept the reason given, while other schools would just mark them as late.

Practice for recording absence in schools was inconsistent because some schools accepted explanations from pupils and parents which would have been challenged in others.

Some of the reasons given by children for unauthorised absence included finding lessons boring, difficulties getting on with particular teachers and difficulties catching up with work.

Playing catch-up

Inspectors found that many schools in the survey did not do enough to ensure that students caught up with work they had missed.

Individual teachers were left to organise catch-up work rather than being supported by clear policies and expectations.

Ofsted chief inspector Christine Gilbert said: "Evidence shows that in order to secure good attendance, strong and determined leadership is crucial.

"In the best practice schools this was achieved by highlighting the importance of attendance to students, parents and staff, rigorous monitoring and a whole school approach to attendance."

The 2007/08 academic year will see an assessment of the government's progress against its Public Service Agreement target on school absence.

That target is to reduce all school absence by 8% compared with 2002-03 levels.

Children's Minister Kevin Brennan said: "Inspiring teaching, strong leadership and an engaging curriculum are the ways to get all children excited about learning - and this is what we want to see in every school.

"As Ofsted themselves report, there has been sustained improvement in teaching standards in recent times, meaning we have the best generation of teachers ever.

"Changes to the secondary curriculum will give schools more flexibility to tailor their teaching to the interests and abilities of individual pupils, while the new Diploma will offer a fresh new option for those who want to blend academic content, in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience in work-related subject areas.

"Together these measures will help us to boost attendance and also lower the number of young people not in education or training."