In a development that will surprise absolutely no one who has ever met a teacher, a three-year research programme has found that school staff have so little faith in the importance of full attendance that they would happily take their own children on term-time holidays. The only thing stopping them, apparently, is the minor inconvenience of being a teacher.
According to a report based on in-depth conversations with frontline staff, teachers do not believe the school system is equipped to handle an ongoing attendance crisis in England and Wales, where nearly one in five children are now missing at least 10% of school. The report, titled A Crisis of Disengagement, comes from youth charity Impetus and policy and polling research firm Public First.
Despite schools adopting a hardline approach to the crisis, focus groups with teachers from low-income areas suggest many share the same scepticism as parents and pupils about the efficiency of holiday fines. "If I wasn't a teacher, I would take my daughter out of school and take her on holiday because it would be cheaper," said one teacher, presumably while eyeing a reasonably priced Center Parcs break.
Another noted: "If it's the only holiday you get to experience in a five-year period, I think that's probably worth more than a week in school in January." A sentiment that will resonate with anyone who has ever sat through a double period of maths in a freezing classroom.
The report lands as the children's commissioner warned of tens of thousands of hidden Neets (young people not in education, employment or training). Analysis suggests an estimated 42,000 16- and 17-year-olds enrolled in colleges in England are attending less than half the time.
Rachel de Souza, the children's commissioner, warned that the number of Neets is almost twice as large as official figures indicate, based on a new analysis of 262 of England's 290 college groups, which are not included in Department for Education attendance figures. "We have a blind spot: hidden Neets slipping through the cracks," she said. "Young people with all the negative impacts of not being in employment, education or training, but with none of the targeted interventions."
Researchers spoke to 62 secondary school staff from schools where more than 25% of pupils were eligible for free school meals. They described the work of chasing attendance as "relentless" and said an occasional holiday or minor absence was less worrying than sustained disengagement.
While some staff saw fines as a necessary tool, many believed they damage trust and undermine the relational work needed to support pupils and families. "We'll send a penalty notice out and then we've really annoyed that parent," said one senior leader. "We've just broken a relationship between a family that we want to get into school."
A record 492,825 penalty notices for unauthorised absences were issued to parents in England in 2024-25, a sharp rise from pre-Covid levels. Researchers have previously warned of a "seismic shift" in attitudes to attendance since the pandemic, with concern that some parents no longer believe children need to be in school full-time. The absence rate for pupils in England in 2025-26 was 6.93%, significantly above the 2018-19 pre-Covid level of 4.7%.
Teachers and senior leaders also argued that gaps in mental health support, unmet special educational needs and a paucity of social workers was making their jobs more difficult, with schools seen as "the one-stop shop for everything". "We've got children who should have specialist provision, and they're in our building every day," said one senior leader. "We also need external agencies such as CAMHS and social workers to have the right capacity and not turn us down."
Staff told researchers the most effective interventions were also the hardest - including building relationships, mentoring and home visits. "I think it takes up a lot of adult hours," said one. "If you looked proportionally at how time was broken down, attendance is very, very time consuming."
Susannah Hardyman, CEO of Impetus, said teachers could not solve the attendance crisis alone. "We now know that not only are pupils, families and teachers unconvinced that every day in school matters, but what we are facing is a wider crisis of disengagement driven by pressures often outside the control of school staff," she said. Which is a polite way of saying the whole system is a bit of a mess.