Model for supporting attendance and intervening in school absences
ATTACHMENT TO SCHOOL 0–50 h
Preventing absences and early intervention in absences increase presence at school
Communal support
Identifying the risk factors
Identifying risk factors is essential for early intervention. The risk factors might include:
- learning difficulties
- depressive symptoms
- anxiety
- deficiencies in controlling emotions
- poor school climate
- poor student-teacher relationship
- bullying
- loneliness
- physical symptoms
- unidentified learning difficulties
- insufficient cooperation between the school and home
- low socio-economic status
- problems in the family dynamics
- parents with mental health and/or substance abuse problems
- overprotective parents
Absences or changes to a child’s or adolescent’s behaviour could be signs of unwillingness to go to school or increased absences. Absences are tangible and measurable and hence easier to discuss. It is harder to measure behavioural changes, as their identification is open to interpretation, and the occurrences can be sensitive. If initial signs, such as those mentioned below, are observed at home or in school, the issue should be addressed immediately with the child or adolescent.
- Recurring difficulties leaving for school
- Difficulty returning to school after a holiday or sickness absence
- Increased contact with the home during school days
- Increased tardiness
- Absences from individual classes
- Singular, recurring days of absence
- Breaks in school days
- Unauthorised absences
- Repeatedly forgetting to do homework
- Changes to grades
- Difficulty transferring from a classroom to another
- Recurring desire to leave the classroom
- Problems with friendships
- Loneliness or withdrawal
- Changes to behaviour and mood
- Increased psychosomatic symptoms (stomach-ache, headache)
The classroom teacher or homeroom teacher monitors teachers’ remarks daily.
Tardiness
If a student comes late to a lesson, the tardiness is entered into Wilma (/DigiOne). Where applicable, the minutes of being late may also be recorded. An absence should not be entered even if the student was late by 20 minutes.
When should you intervene?
Primary school: about 10 instances per term
Upper school: about 15 instances per term
The figures above are guidelines only. If there are several tardy incidents in a short period of time or they cause concern for other reasons, their reasons should be identified, even if there are fewer of them than indicated above.
Absences
- In primary school, you should address absences of concern earlier, because there are fewer lessons than in upper school. Primary schools may determine lower absence monitoring limits than those presented in the model, if they so wish.
- Unauthorised absences should be brought up with the child or adolescent and guardian without delay to find out the reasons.
- Concern may grow also over single absences (e.g. regularly on Monday mornings, during certain subject classes or specific teacher’s lessons).
- If absences suddenly increase, it may be worth intervening significantly faster than by the absence guidelines above. If absences have suddenly increased and there are many of them (about 20–30 h/month, and even if they have been acknowledged by a guardian), the teacher should contact the guardians and have a talk with the student.
Other teacher remarks and observations should be brought up with the child or adolescent and guardian
- if they are noticeable.
- if there are changes to the student’s behaviour.
- if the student has many approved absences, e.g. for underlying conditions.
Sources: KouluKunnossa, Oulun kynämalli, Vantaa student welfare manual
Individual support
Student welfare
You should consult student welfare employees with a low threshold. The teacher’s concern does not need to be structured in the consultation, it is enough that concern has grown. It is not necessary to inform the student and guardian beforehand of a consultation in which the student’s identity is not revealed. When mentioning the student’s name, permission should be obtained from the guardian and/or student, taking their age and developmental level into consideration. The teacher should tell the student/guardian what the issue is about and who have been consulted. After this, the teacher should be in contact with the student/guardian and tell them what was agreed in the consultation. The teacher may use the student’s name when communicating information that is essential from the aspect of organising teaching, even if the guardian or student forbids it.
Child protection
Child protection may be consulted by phone during office hours without using the student’s name (Mon to Fri 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), tel. 0941915500.
Source: Teacher’s handbook for student welfare issues (2.1, p. 6)
Concern over a child or adolescent | Wellbeing services county of Vantaa and Kerava (https://vakehyva.fi/en)
Finding out the underlying causes for absences is important so that appropriate support can be offered to the student. It is not always easy to identify the contributing factors to or drivers of absences. There are various tools available for mapping the reasons for absences. The results of the mapping are discussed by the teacher and guardian together and, when necessary, a multidisciplinary expert group.
Learning support
A student’s level of support is always determined by their individual need for support as well as the overall situation of their learning and schooling. If there are so many absences that the student’s learning is at risk, and individual support solutions to organise teaching have been designed for them, they fall at minimum within enhanced support, even if they have no learning disability as such. The criteria then are the problems with their school attendance.
A plan for how a student’s studies will be promoted is recorded in pedagogical documents, as necessary, so the plan is available for all the parties to see. For instance, if there is a subject that is studied completely at home, this should be recorded, as well as the principles of displaying competence and/or assessment. The pedagogical document is meant to be a living document that can be edited when necessary. As the support measures change/are confirmed, they should be recorded in the pedagogical document.
