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Social Justice
a Scotland where everyone matters
Indicators of Progress 2003

Milestone 10: Reducing by a third the days lost every year through exclusion from school and truancy

Information required to measure exclusion and truancy directly is not available, and instead it is measured by two proxy measures. The first indicator is defined as the total number of half days unauthorised absence - which includes truancy, temporary exclusions and family holidays where attendance is otherwise unsatisfactory, but not removals from the register. A second indicator records the number of half days lost through temporary exclusions. The second indicator is therefore a subset of the first.

Unauthorised absence including temporary exclusions in primary schools

In 2001/02 there were some 533,000 half days of unauthorised absence including temporary exclusions from primary schools representing a 25 per cent increase on the 1998/99 figures. However, since 1998/99 there has been a slight drop in the number of half days lost to temporary exclusion, from 38,000 to 32,000.

Chart 10a: Unauthorised absence and temporary exclusions in primary schools

Source: Scottish Executive

Unauthorised absence including temporary exclusions in secondary schools

There were just under 1.6 million half days of unauthorised absence from secondary schools - representing an increase of 19 per cent since 1998/99. Since 1998/99 there has been a drop in the number of half days lost to temporary exclusion, from 276,000 to 262,000.

Chart 10b: Unauthorised absence and temporary exclusions in secondary schools

Source: Scottish Executive

Removals from the register

This is measured using the total number of incidents of removal from the register and is available for the years 1998/99 to 2001/02. Since 1998/99 there has been a 3 per cent drop in the number of removals from the register.

Table 10c: Removals from the register from primary, secondary and special schools, 1998/99 - 2001/02

Minority ethnic group analysis

This analysis is available for the number of temporary exclusions and number of removals from register. During 2001/02, generally the rates of temporary exclusion for pupils from minority ethnic groups were lower than the overall rate for Scotland. Care needs to be taken when drawing any conclusions from number of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds removed from the register because of the very small numbers of pupils involved.

Table 10d: Number of exclusions from primary, secondary and special schools by minority ethnic group, 2001/02

* Exclusions figures are for 2001/02, whereas pupil numbers are from September 2002, and hence a different academic year.

Deprivation analysis

In general, levels of unauthorised absenteeism are higher in schools with high levels of deprivation (measured by free school meal entitlement). However there are many schools which do not follow this trend. Table 10e shows that in the 20 per cent of primary schools with the highest levels of free school meal entitlement, the rate of unauthorised absenteeism is over three times higher than in the other 80 per cent of schools. In secondary schools the gap between the 20 per cent of schools recording the highest levels of free school meal entitlement and the other 80 per cent of schools is much narrower.

Table 10e: Unauthorised absence by deprivation, 2001/02

Urban and Rural analysis

Table 10f presents a snap shot of the differences between urban and rural schools for the academic year 2001/02. The main indicator has been split into two constituent parts, unauthorised absence due to temporary exclusion, and other unauthorised absence.

In both primary and secondary schools, and for both indicators, there are generally decreasing rates of absenteeism as the categories become more rural. For example, the figures show that unauthorised absence rates in primary schools in large urban areas were on average three times higher than in remote rural primary schools.

Table 10f: Urban and Rural analysis for 2001/02

Background data

Table 10g shows the percentage of half days that pupils could attend school that are lost through all categories of unauthorised absence.

Table 10g: Percentage unauthorised absence, 1994/95 - 2001/02

Table 10h: Number of half days unauthorised absence (000s), 1994/95 - 2001/02

Table 10i: Temporary Exclusions, 1998/99 - 2001/02

Availability of data and references

Information on unauthorised absence is available at Scotland level from the academic year 1995/96, and includes stages up to and including secondary S5. Information is not available disaggregated by gender or disability.

Information on ethnicity is available for the number of exclusions, but not for the days lost due to absence.

Information on the number of removals from the register is available from 1998/99 onwards.

All data relates to publicly funded schools only.

Attendance was defined as:

participation in the programme of educational activities arranged by the school.

In addition to actual attendance within the school premises, it covered:

• work experience;
• educational visits;
• day and residential visits to outdoor centres;
• college/consortium school study;
• interviews and visits relating to further and/or higher education;
• debates, sports, musical or theatrical productions etc. arranged by, or in conjunction with, the school;
• activities in connection with psychological services;
• school medical examinations off-site;
• hospital tuition.

Authorised absence was defined as:

• sickness;
• medical and dental treatment;
• bereavement;
• domestic circumstances relating to exceptional hardship at home;
• no school within walking distance and no transport arrangements;
• study leave;
• religious observance;
• family holidays where attendance is otherwise satisfactory;
• meetings prior to, and in, court;
• attendance at, or in connection with, a Child Care Review;
• attendance at, or in connection with, a Children's Hearing;
• weddings of immediate family;
• certified debates, sports, musical or theatrical productions not arranged by, or in conjunction with, the school;
• extended visits overseas to relatives;
• sanctioned, extended absence in relation to children of travelling families.

Unauthorised absence was defined as:

• temporary exclusions arising from incidents in or out of class;
• truancy, an application having been made to the education authority in relation to an attendance order;
• truancy, an appeal having been made to the Sheriff in relation to an attendance order;
• family holidays where attendance is otherwise unsatisfactory;
• truancy, defined as unauthorised absence from school, for any period, as a result of premeditated or spontaneous action on the part of the pupil, parent or both;
• unexplained absence.

Percentages for authorised and unauthorised absence relate to the total number of possible attendances. For many schools this is 380 half-day sessions during the school year.

From 2003/04 attendance, absence and exclusions data will be collected in much greater detail allowing more complete analysis, including separate measurement of the number of days lost due to truancy and both forms of exclusion.

EXCLUSIONS FROM SCHOOLS, 2001/2002 (Revised 21 July 2003)
www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00236-00.asp

ATTENDANCE AND ABSENCE IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS: 1999/2000 TO 2001/2002
www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00218-00.asp

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