Newly released government data shows that one in every four primary school students has mental health problems, which has exacerbated the school absenteeism crisis.
A longitudinal study, exclusively shared with i Newspaper and based on over 7,000 children, has for the first time confirmed the link between poor mental health and attendance. Research has found that students with mental health problems are seven times more likely to be absent from school for more than 15 days than their peers.
Baroness Anne Longfield, the executive chairperson of the Youth Life Center, said the study confirmed what teachers have long said that “many children who do not attend school are troubled by mental health problems.” She pointed out: “We are simultaneously facing the crisis of children’s mental health and the crisis of school attendance.” Too many children feel that the school is not suitable for them and lack a sense of belonging to the school, which can aggravate anxiety and other mental health problems.
Meanwhile, the Education secretary plans to announce a plan to deal with this double crisis next week, including how the government will fulfill its campaign promises to ensure that every child has access to mental health support at school. It is expected that new measures aimed at improving attendance will also be announced.
This announcement stems from the increasingly serious absenteeism crisis. The latest data from the Ministry of Education shows that in the 2022-2023 academic year, 150,000 children in public schools were classified as seriously absent, meaning that more than half of them were absent from school. This figure has increased by 30,000 compared to the previous year. Compared with the 60,000 people who were seriously absent in the 2018-2019 academic year before the pandemic, the growth rate has reached 150%.
This new study followed 7,737 teenagers for three years and correlated their survey feedback with school attendance records. The results show that the mental health status of children with severe absences is approximately twice as bad as that of children who are only 1% absent. The research also found that the mental health status of students who smoke marijuana is twice as bad as that of non-smokers, while the mental health status of students who have been bullied is three times worse than that of those who have not been bullied.
These research results are based on the second batch of research subjects of the English Adolescent Longitudinal Study (LSYPE2). This study was a large-scale one that tracked a sample of teenagers born in 1999/2000. Researchers conducted interviews with participants from grade 9 to grade 11 and correlated their responses with attendance data from the National Student Database (NPD).
Twenty-six percent of the participants scored highly on the GHQ-12 scale, a globally recognized mental health measurement tool, which means they were “very likely to have mental illness”. Data from the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK in 2023 shows that 21% of teenagers aged 8 to 16 May have mental health disorders, a 7-percentage-point increase from 14% in 2017.
Education Secretary Bridget Philippson said that the “chain crisis” of high absenteeism and worsening mental health problems has “taken root” and warned that children’s well-being has “seriously deteriorated”. She said, “This is why this administration is committed to ensuring that every school is equipped with a mental health professional. Next week, we will take an important new step to make this goal a reality.” She also said, “I hope every child can gain something in the classroom and give excellent teachers the time, tools and support to provide outstanding education.” This is why we are recruiting an additional 6,500 teachers to bring more outstanding teachers into the classroom. It is also why we are promoting the free breakfast club in every primary school across the country to enable children to start their learning days in good condition.
