School Avoidance Has Many Layers
School avoidance is a heterogeneous concept (Maynard et al., 2015). This means that it cannot be treated as a single condition. Different children will be hesitant to attend school for different reasons.
There is no single cause for school avoidance, and it is likely that various factors contribute to a child or young person’s difficulty with attending school. It is well-recognised in the research literature that school avoidance is often underpinned by several complex and interlinked factors, including the child/young person, the family, and the school environment. School avoidance may be related to factors such as bullying, trauma, learning needs and/or disabilities, or mental health difficulties. School avoidance can also be linked to the parent’s experience with the education system as a child, as well as values and attitudes towards educational attainment in the home environment. School avoidance behaviour may be the result of interactions between a number of these factors, at different levels. Bronfenbrenner’s (2005) model can be a useful visual for identifying the levels at which risk factors might lie, and designing interventions. Hovering over the diagramme below will magnify each area.
Covid-19 severely affected school life, resulting in disruptions in routine for many children and young people. The pandemic severely disrupted school life in Ireland, with prolonged closures, remote learning, and social isolation affecting academic progress, social development, and emotional well-being. Now we are seeing the after effects, particularly in increased levels of dysregulation, anxiety, and behavioural challenges among children and young people. Many primary schools are now facing issues that were traditionally more common in secondary school settings, such as school refusal, aggression, and difficulties with attention and social interaction. Some of the children and young people in school today, will not have sat a State Examination before due to Covid-19, or they will not have completed a routine transition from primary to secondary school.
Adapted with permission from West Sussex Educational Psychology Service (2022).
Biopsychosocial Model
As described above, the interaction of risk factors may predispose a child or young person to be more vulnerable to school avoidance. The 4 P’s Biopsychosocial Model can be useful in examining how the risk factors outlined above might interact with one another to result in school avoidance (Cognus, 2022). This model looks at how the different risk and protective factors a child or young person is experiencing at any given time might interact with one another. The 4 Ps model can provide a framework for evaluating school avoidance risk(s) and guidance on best target interventions. It can also be used as a framework to tell the child or young person’s story of how school avoidance might have occurred.
Good Practice Tip: The 4 P’s Model can be used in many ways. It can be adapted as a narrative intervention to show the story of how school avoidance may have become a problem for a child or young person.
Functions of School Avoidance
Behaviour is a form of communication, and like all behaviours, school avoidance serves a purpose for the child or young person. A child or young person may choose to avoid school to:
- Reduce separation anxiety or increase connection with significant others at home. This is not a wilful act of rebellion; rather it is a deep need for comfort and safety from a caregiver. With separation anxiety, we must be cognisant that there is a need for connection, not simply attention.
- Access tangible reinforcers outside school (e.g. shopping/playing video games).
- Avoid uncomfortable feelings brought on by attending school (e.g. anxiety/low mood).
- Avoid situations that might be stressful (e.g. academic demands/social pressures/school environments).
Adapted from Meath CYPSC Emotionally Based School Avoidance Pack (2023).
Good Practice Tip: It can be helpful to devise interventions to address the specific reasons why the child or young person is avoiding school, i.e. focusing on the home environment if this is a positive reinforcer for school avoidance.
Additional Resources
Bronfenbrenner Model
This model is widely recognised and will helps schools to organise risk areas by considering individual, school, family and community factors when developing a school avoidance intervention plan.