Data set from Pupil absence in schools in England

National absence by characteristics

Not the latest data

Published 26 March 2020

Last updated 26 March 2020

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Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Pupil absence in schools in England
• Release: Academic year 2018/19
• Geographic levels: National
• Indicators:
  • Authorised absence rate
  • Authorised absence rate exact
  • Number of authorised absence sessions
• Filters:
  • Characteristic
  • School type
• Time period: 2012/13 to 2018/19

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Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_identifier	year_breakdown	time_period	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	school_type	characteristic_group	characteristic	enrolments	sess_possible	sess_overall	sess_authorised	sess_unauthorised	sess_overall_percent	sess_authorised_percent	sess_unauthorised_percent	enrolments_pa_10_exact	enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	sess_possible_pa_10_exact	sess_overall_pa_10_exact	sess_authorised_pa_10_exact	sess_unauthorised_pa_10_exact	sess_overall_percent_pa_10_exact	sess_authorised_percent_pa_10_exact	sess_unauthorised_percent_pa_10_exact	sess_auth_illness	sess_auth_appointments	sess_auth_religious	sess_auth_study	sess_auth_traveller	sess_auth_holiday	sess_auth_ext_holiday	sess_auth_excluded	sess_auth_other	sess_auth_totalreasons	sess_unauth_holiday	sess_unauth_late	sess_unauth_other	sess_unauth_noyet	sess_unauth_totalreasons	sess_overall_totalreasons
Academic year	six half terms	201819	National	E92000001	England	Total	Total	Total	7105958	2522300237	119207289	83570764	35636525	4.72613	3.31328	1.41286	771863	10.86219	245677269	46824152	27473608	19350544	19.05921	11.1828	7.87641	62028416	7023954	1284288	713116	259678	1673684	:	2049972	7588162	82621270	10265362	1812826	21845078	1360377	35283643	117904913
Academic year	six half terms	201819	National	E92000001	England	Total	Gender	Gender male	3635950	1289601975	62013620	43558423	18455197	4.80874	3.37766	1.43108	404627	11.12851	128814757	24969212	14740857	10228355	19.38381	11.44345	7.94036	31730925	3554748	660434	369106	132542	868097	:	1498625	4233485	43047962	5176815	948718	11440700	702279	18268512	61316474
Academic year	six half terms	201819	National	E92000001	England	Total	Gender	Gender female	3470007	1232697886	57193669	40012341	17181328	4.63972	3.24592	1.3938	367236	10.58315	116862512	21854940	12732751	9122189	18.70141	10.8955	7.80592	30297491	3469206	623854	344010	127136	805587	:	551347	3354677	39573308	5088547	864108	10404378	658098	17015131	56588439
Academic year	six half terms	201819	National	E92000001	England	Total	Major ethnic groups	Ethnicity Major White Total	5220314	1865304736	90570232	63848144	26722088	4.85552	3.42293	1.43259	587234	11.24902	189078858	36888099	21807707	15080392	19.50937	11.53366	7.97572	48071224	5373287	115949	524763	250434	1276216	:	1564769	5859850	63036492	7508263	1319110	16655133	940935	26423441	89459933
Academic year	six half terms	201819	National	E92000001	England	Total	Minor ethnic groups	Ethnicity Minor White British	4700396	1684291422	81102938	57649641	23453297	4.81526	3.42278	1.39247	518394	11.02873	168236238	32945989	19727843	13218146	19.58317	11.72627	7.8569	43530206	4885768	51946	487396	92587	1138121	:	1452611	5293768	56932403	6641912	1201559	14558124	795460	23197055	80129458

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Variables in this data set

Table showing first 5 of 35 variables

Variable name	Variable description
characteristic	Characteristic - Filter by pupil characteristic
enrolments	Number of pupil enrolments
enrolments_pa_10_exact	Number of persistent absentees
enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	Percentage of persistent absentees
school_type	School type - Filter by school type

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Footnotes

1. The definition of persistent absence changed from the 2015/16 academic year - The information presented for years prior to 2015/16 has been produced using the same methodology in order to allow users to make comparisons on a consistent basis over time.
2. The percentage of persistent absentees is the number of persistent absentees expressed as a percentage of the total number of enrolments.
3. Minority ethnic group includes pupils who have been classified according to their ethnic group, excluding White British.
4. Special schools include maintained special schools, non-maintained special schools and special academies. Excludes general hospital schools, independent special schools and independent schools approved for SEN pupils.
5. State-funded primary schools include all primary academies, including free schools.
6. Social Emotional and Mental Health was added as a new type of need in 2015, the previous type of need Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties has been removed although it is not expected it should be a direct replacement.
7. Number of enrolments includes pupils on the school roll for at least one session who are aged between 5 and 15, excluding boarders. Some pupils may be counted more than once (if they moved schools during the academic year or are registered in more than one school).
8. Absence rates are the number of absence sessions expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions.
9. Figures for pupils with unclassified or missing characteristics information should be interpreted with caution.
10. State-funded secondary schools include city technology colleges and all secondary academies, including all-through academies and free schools.
11. In September 2014 the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provisions were introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014. This reform caused changes to SEN categories - Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans were introduced and SEN support replaces school action and school action plus but some pupils remain with these provision types in first year of transition (2014/15).
12. From 2014/15 SEN support replaced School Action and School Action plus but some pupils remain with these provision types. Those who were formerly School Action did not provide type of need in previous years. Those who remain on school action provision are not included here but have been included within the SEN support category in other tables.
13. Pupil enrolments missing 10 percent or more of their own possible sessions (due to authorised or unauthorised absence) are classified as persistent absentees.

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