1.1 What is School Avoidance?

Defining School Avoidance

School avoidance is a broad term that refers to situations in which a child or young person finds it difficult to attend or stay in school for a whole day. It also covers children and young people who may attend school late and leave early for reasons that pertain to difficulty in self-regulating or coping with anxieties. School avoidance occurs along a spectrum ranging from mild, sporadic difficulties with school attendance to more severe and persistent difficulties that require collaboration with the family/carers and multi-agency input.

Good Practice Tip: It is worth noting that although there is a spectrum of school avoidance behaviours, not all children and young people move neatly between each area on the spectrum. Recognising early indications of school avoidance is crucial in intervening early and preventing it from worsening.

It is difficult to estimate the prevalence of school-avoiding behaviour because different definitions exist and multiple attendance tracking systems are used in schools. There is no one central database which tracks school avoidance; however, on any given day in Ireland, 6% of the total school-going population, or the equivalent of 60,000 children and young people, are absent from school. A 2022 report by Tusla, found that populated counties with large cities have the highest total student absences, with Dublin being the city with the highest reported student absences. To further contextualise this data, DEIS schools (which includes most schools in Dublin 24) have traditionally experienced higher rates of student absence where a child or young person is absent for 20 or more days.

School avoidance is a systemic difficulty. This means it is a difficulty that affects and is influenced by a whole system. In this case, school avoidance affects the child or young person involved, their family, and the wider school system. Parents/guardians and the school may find it difficult to support the young person, which often results in the request for involvement of external services. School avoidance is an issue that may have many underlying needs; therefore, input and collaboration from several agencies are often required to overcome it.

Good Practice Tip: Developing a school avoidance response plan should include a selection of suitable interventions at all points listed on the spectrum below. It is vital to know what supports your school can offer children and young people at each stage. It can be a helpful visual.

Adapted from Jane Sharpe’s Presentation with permission and amended by CDI (2023). Originally adapted from Kearney, C. & Albano, A. (2018), When Children Refuse School, Oxford University Press.

School Attendance Problems (SAPs)

Adapted with permission from Jane Sharpe’s Research on School Avoidance (2023).

School avoidance falls under the umbrella term of School Attendance Problems (SAPs). The term School Attendance Problems (SAPs) is used internationally to refer to a wide range of difficulties in attending school. In this section we will look at how school avoidance differs from other SAPs.

Good Practice Tip: Agree on the terminology the school will use in all interactions with the family and child or young person during the initial stages of addressing school avoidance.

School avoidance is primarily child-motivated. School avoidance is driven by negative emotions such as fear or worry, which may look very different according to the age of the child or young person.

School avoidance, if left unaddressed, can lead to outright school refusal and put a child or young person at risk of early school leaving in the future. We have left a table of SAPs terms with their explanation below.