Parents urged to rethink term-time holidays as primary school absences hit record high

Primary school principals believe anxiety around attending school, school reluctance, and school refusal is on the rise in children post-pandemic. File picture

There are no official figure yet but primary school principals believe anxiety around attending school, school reluctance, and school refusal is on the rise in children post-pandemic.

“What we are seeing is tears, stresses, belly aches, headaches, things like that, from all ages,” one principal who spoke to the Irish Examiner said.

It has prompted their school to introduce a ‘nurture’ element in the morning, an extra check-in on students to see who may need a little TLC that day.

“Absenteeism is a huge indicator that we would look at too - why are they not coming?”

As the Department of Education launched a new policy to tackle concerning levels of school attendance this week, the Annual Attendance Report (AAR) for 2022/23 was published.

It shows that as the world returned to normality after the covid-19 pandemic, more than 175,000 students missed out on at least a month of school. 

Most of these students are in primary school, where 6.8 million school days overall were lost to absences. In post-primary schools, more than 5.5 million days were lost.

Principals are required to report extended absences to Tusla so when a child misses at least 20 school days, a record of this is kept. This can be further categorised into illness, urgent matters, ‘other’ reasons, and holidays. 

In line with much of society, the days lost to illness has increased post-pandemic. But while parents have little control over if their child gets ill, they do have control over where and when they will take a family holiday.

Most of these students are in primary school, where 6.8 million school days overall were lost to absences. In post-primary schools, more than 5.5 million days were lost

Family holidays

The number of school days primary school children lost in extended absences due to their parents taking them out of class during term to go on holidays stands at almost 360,000, almost three times higher than prior to the pandemic when it stood at 132,768.

It has almost increased tenfold when compared to the 2019/20 school year, when it fell to just under 38,500 as covid travel restrictions took hold.

Primary school principals who spoke to the Irish Examiner on the condition of anonymity warn that parents are not aware of the damage that missing extended periods of school has on a young child, even for a holiday.

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“There is a perception as well ‘sure, they are doing nothing in June anyway’,” one principal who spoke to the Examiner said. “Time out of school can actually make it even harder for children to return to a regular routine. That’s a factor we’re seeing as well.”

“You might think it’s only five or 10 days out of school but what happens if the child gets sick, which is something you can’t control? You could have a child out for three or four weeks.”

“I think there’s a bit of ‘I don’t care, I’m going to do what’s right for my family’ and they don’t see the significant impact it’s having on the child.” 

But it is hard for children to return to school after any extended absence, no matter the circumstance, he explained.

They also may be afraid to talk about where they have been because they know they weren’t meant to be on holiday. “It is harder for them to return because they are out of the routine or the rhythm of schooling, and they are ‘different’ from their classmates and they have the pressure of not being able to tell where they’ve been.”

Another principal told the Examiner that he expects in the coming week to hear from parents who plan to take their children out of school for trips.

You can understand it on one level, holidays are very expensive, perhaps there’s an economic benefit to going off-peak and people do need a break, but it does impact on the children’s learning.

“If children are missing for a prolonged period of time, there is a gap in their learning. When you take a child on holiday, the child will love going on holiday, it’s an easy sell in that regard.

“But when a child comes back, young children are quick to perceive if there are gaps in their learning and if they see their peers moving ahead. If that happens year on year, those gaps can widen.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said parents have a legal duty to ensure that their child attends school on every day that the school is open unless there is a genuine reason not to.

When compared to the 2018/19 school year, at primary level, the total number of days lost in all absence reason categories, apart from due to suspensions, increased when compared to the 2022/23 school year.

Education minister Helen McEntee has announced a "comprehensive suite" of targeted and universal actions to improve school attendance, the spoksperson added.

This includes a revision of the Education (Welfare) Act, the rollout of 'Anseo' a new framework to analyse attendance data, and a multimedia campaign to launch in September, to promote the importance of regular school attendance.