About this event

Absence from school is a serious problem with damaging consequences for young people’s education, health, and welfare. With absence rates soaring in the wake of the pandemic, the search is on for effective solutions. In this seminar, CASE Visiting Professor of Practice Moira Wallace explores the drivers of school absence, and the evolution of absence policy and outcomes in England over the last two decades. Drawing on her recently published research into youth policy under Labour, the Coalition, and the Conservatives, she will show that English secondary school pupils saw significant falls in overall absence and persistent absence in the 2000s, and that these continued until 2013/14. She will discuss possible causes of these reductions, including the role of government absence initiatives, wider youth policy, and other social changes, and consider why progress stalled after 2013/14 before soaring in the pandemic. In this seminar, Moira Wallace will highlight the scale and breadth of action that will be needed to tackle current levels of school absence, and the opportunities to apply the lessons of effective practice in the past. We will then hear from Anne Longfield, Founder and Executive Chair of the Centre for Young Lives and previously Children’s Commissioner for England. This seminar will be Chaired by Professor Kitty Stewart (CASE). Please note that this seminar takes place 11.30am - 12.45pm, in a change to usual Social Exclusion Seminar timings.

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