Attendance during strike action
This release covers the academic year to date up to 24 March 2023.
On 01 February, there was a national teacher strike. Therefore, no figures for that day have been provided in the dashboard and underlying data. 43% of pupils attended school on the 01 February. This was 58% for state-funded primary and 24% for state-funded secondary schools.
Between 28 February and 02 March there were regional teacher strikes. Therefore, no figures for these days have been provided in the dashboard and underlying data for regions affected or at a national level, however figures are still available for regions not expected to be affected. Attendance rates for each of the days affected by regional strikes were:
- 46% on 28 February (62% for state-funded primary and 27% for state-funded secondary) in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and The Humber regions.
- 57% on 01 March (75% for state-funded primary and 31% for state-funded secondary) in the East Midlands, West Midlands and East of England regions.
- 43% on 02 March (57% for state-funded primary and 23% for state-funded secondary) in the London, South East and South West regions.
On 15 March and 16 March there were further national teacher strikes. Therefore, no figures for those days have been provided in the dashboard and underlying data.
- 48% of pupils attended school on 15 March (63% for state-funded primary and 26% for state-funded secondary).
- 48% of pupils attended school on 16 March (64% for state-funded primary and 25% for state-funded secondary)
For data on how many schools were open on days where there were teacher strikes, see the School closures during the 2023 teacher strike transparency data (opens in a new tab).
Attendance during latest week
The attendance rate was 93.0% across all schools in the week commencing 20 March 2023. The absence rate was, therefore, 7.0% across all schools.
By school type, the absence rates across the week commencing 20 March 2023 were:
- 5.3% in state-funded primary schools (4.1% authorised and 1.3% unauthorised)
- 8.9% in state-funded secondary schools (5.3% authorised and 3.6% unauthorised)
- 13.1% in state-funded special schools (9.7% authorised and 3.4% unauthorised)
Attendance across the year to date
The data shows that the attendance rate across the academic year to date was 92.5%. The absence rate was, therefore, 7.5% across all schools.
Absence rate increase towards the end of the Autumn term was driven by illness, which during week commencing 12 December 2022 was 9.1%, up from 2.6% at the start of the term. In the week commencing 20 March 2023, illness absence was 3.6%, slightly increased from the first week of the Spring term (week commencing 02 January 2023) when it was 3.2%. Increase in illness absence at the end of the Autumn term was in line with increases in rates of seasonal flu and other seasonal respiratory illnesses (opens in a new tab).
By school type, the absence rates across the year to date were:
- 6.1% in state-funded primary schools (4.6% authorised and 1.5% unauthorised)
- 9.1% in state-funded secondary schools (5.9% authorised and 3.3% unauthorised)
- 13.7% in state-funded special schools (10.4% authorised and 3.3% unauthorised)
Across the year to date, 22.4% of pupil enrolments missed 10% or more of their possible sessions and are therefore identified as persistently absent. By school type, the persistent absence rate across the year to date was:
- 18.5% in state-funded primary schools
- 26.8% in state-funded secondary schools
- 39.7% in state-funded special schools
22.4% represents a fall from 25.0% in Autumn term. The high persistent absence rates are driven by illness towards the end of the Autumn term. UK Health Security Authority data (opens in a new tab) shows that a number of illnesses all peaked at around the same time in December. Typically, illnesses are more spread across the season. Between the end of November and the end of December 2022, persistent absence increased from 21.7% to 25.0%. In Autumn 2022, 13.3% of pupils were persistently absent solely due to illness, a large increase on 5% in Autumn 2019.
Whilst persistent absence is higher than last year, driven by illness, there has been a sharp fall in pupils persistently not attending. This reflects that in Autumn 2020 and Autumn 2021, pupils were being recorded as not attending due to reasons related to coronavirus (e.g. where isolating). Including these sessions shows that there has been a drop in pupils not attending 10% or more sessions overall, from 44.6% in 2020, 32.2% in 2021 to 25.0% in 2022. Since the start of the Spring term, absence rates have decreased and persistent absence rate for the year to date is currently 22.4%.