Almost a third of Scottish pupils are missing an average of one day of school per fortnight, according to new research.
In a report, the Commission on School Reform found that absences in Scotland’s schools had skyrocketed since the pandemic.
One in eight now misses a day a week, while two out of five miss a day every fortnight.
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In total, 210,672 pupils from schools in Scotland had an attendance of less than 90% in 2022/23, equivalent to 32% of all pupils, while 79,633 had attendance of less than 80%, equivalent to 12%.
Compared to the years before the pandemic, the figures were 141,502 and 46,381, 21% and 7% respectively.
The data was uncovered through Freedom of Information requests to Scotland’s 32 councils.
The group, set up by the Reform Scotland think tank, found significant variation at a local authority level.
Half of high school pupils in Dundee, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire are missing a day every fortnight.
This compares to one-quarter or less in East Dunbartonshire, Highland, South Lanarkshire and Stirling.
The Commission, set up by the Reform Scotland think tank, is calling on the Scottish Government to take the issue more seriously.
They say it is “worrying that this alarming trend is being met by a lack of urgency or concern from policymakers.”
The reports says there should be “an investigation into why an increasing number of children are regularly missing school, and why this has jumped up since the pandemic.”
They also want data on absences collected to be published more frequently. Currently, the figures are only produced biennially.
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Keir Bloomer, Chair of the Commission on School Reform and former local authority Director of Education, said: “School absence is a matter of national importance and should be treated as such.
“Children who miss a large proportion of school time are less likely to attain and less likely to form good relationships, as well as being disruptive to the family environment at home and the learning environment in class.
“School education is the most important driver of individual and national success, and it is time we recognised these links.
“In a particularly alarming trend, the absence problem gets worse as children get older, with two in five children of exam age missing an average of a day’s school every fortnight.
“It is impossible for a child to reach their full potential with this level of absence, and we must collectively grasp this problem before more damage is done.”
Last month, a report by the Commons Education Select Committee warned that an increasing number of children presenting with mental-health problems and cost-of-living pressures on families were among the many reasons why absences in English schools were so high.
Earlier this week, Action For Children said that pupils missing school due to anxiety had become the number one issue for parents and carers.
The charity said that an article of theirs providing advice for parents had been visited more than 57,000 times in the year to March.
Reform Scotland will host a panel discussion on the report, titled Absent Minds, on Thursday.
MSP and former SNP leadership contender Kate Forbes will be a member of the panel.
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