The majority of primary and secondary school teachers do not feel equipped to support students with emotionally based school avoidance, polling for Tes reveals.
And headteachers’ leaders warn that the government has not made a “really concerted effort to tackle the root causes of deeply engrained absence”, despite attendance being one of the biggest education policy issues since the Covid pandemic.
Emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA) – or, as some call it, emotionally based school non-attendance (EBSNA) – describes a child or young person who has severe difficulty in attending school as a result of emotional factors, which can result in prolonged absences from school.
It is not recorded as a specific reason for absence in Department for Education attendance data, but there are fears about long-term absence rising.
The latest DfE attendance data shows that the proportion of students missing half or more of their lessons – classed as “severe absence” – reached a record high last year.
Statistics show that although overall absence and persistent absence (missing 10 per cent or more of sessions) in schools are declining, severe absence is increasing. In 2024-25 the proportion of severely absent students was 2.39 per cent, up from 2.3 per cent in 2023-24.
And in the national parent and pupil voice data, based on responses just before the current government took office, anxiety and mental health problems were the second-most common reason cited for absence, after illness.
Teachers don’t feel equipped for EBSA
A Teacher Tapp poll for Tes, which more than 9,000 teachers took part in, reveals that in both phases more than 50 per cent of respondents did not feel able to support EBSA.
Teachers were asked to what extent they agreed with the statement: “I feel equipped to support students with emotionally based school avoidance.”
Among primary school teachers, 20 per cent strongly disagreed and another 31 per cent slightly disagreed. Only 4 per cent strongly agreed and just over a third slightly agreed with the statement.
Some 9 per cent of respondents did not know what EBSA was.
Among secondary teachers, 26 per cent said they strongly disagreed and 31 per cent said they slightly disagreed. Only 5 per cent said they strongly agreed and another 28 per cent said they slightly agreed; 11 per cent did not know what EBSA was.
The figures, from earlier this year, are based on responses from 3,769 primary teachers and 6,014 secondary teachers.
Concerns over attendance drive
There are fears that the government’s drive to improve attendance figures is not actually addressing the issues for a group of young people who are unable to attend, and it may even be making the situation worse.
Sarah Hannafin, head of policy at the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “The policy focus from government has been on improving attendance figures. However, policies like increasing parental fines for unauthorised absence and introducing AI-generated attendance targets do not by themselves address the issues which keep children out of school long-term.
“Attendance mentors in some areas may help, and initiatives including free breakfast clubs and a register of children not in school are also welcome, but it feels like a really concerted effort to tackle the root causes of deeply engrained absence is missing.”
Ms Hannafin highlighted that a rise in severe absence last year was fuelled by increased absence among pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
“While we hope the government’s SEND reforms will be backed by the funding needed to help ensure schools are more consistently equipped to provide all the support pupils need, more targeted support is also needed for children with other issues deterring attendance, from mental health issues to challenges at home,” she said.
Ms Hannafin added that “much more investment” is needed to improve the availability of specialist support from health and social care professionals for schools.
EBSA ‘is a major issue’
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The government’s drive to improve school attendance is well intentioned, but it sometimes seems as though there is a failure to recognise that schools are already doing everything they can, and that the key to this challenge lies in providing schools and families with the support they need to address the underlying causes of absence.
“In particular, it is very clear that emotionally based school avoidance is a major issue. This is reflected in the DfE’s own pupil and parent voice data, which shows that, after illness, anxiety and mental health problems were the second most common reason given for absence.”
Mr Di’Iasio said schools are trying to provide support “within the context of impossibly tight budgets”.
He added: “It can also be extremely difficult to access the specialist mental health care that is needed for children who are suffering the most acute and complex problems.
“Schools need not only the resources, staffing and time necessary to address these issues, but also the capacity in health services to provide the right support – enabling children experiencing anxiety or mental health challenges to re-engage with learning and thrive in school.”
The NEU teaching union’s annual survey this year found that more than two-thirds of secondary teachers routinely see student absence that is related to mental health.
The union polled 9,793 members about mental health before its recent annual conference in Brighton. Some 48 per cent had regularly seen absenteeism due to mental ill-health or related treatment; another 37 per cent had occasionally seen this.
Among secondary teachers, 68 per cent had regularly seen absenteeism due to mental ill-health.
Experts at hand
The government has announced that it will invest £1.8 billion in an “experts at hand” programme, which aims to enable councils to work with health and care boards to ensure that schools can access external support such as educational psychologists.
The DfE has also announced that it will invest £26 million in training more people to become educational psychologists.
Donna Wiggett, general secretary of the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP), said: “From AEP members’ perspective, most schools and teachers want to do the right thing, but they are not always supported or resourced to respond as effectively as they would like.
“EBSNA is rarely driven by a single issue; it often reflects a combination of factors such as anxiety, sensory needs and pressures within the school environment. Many of these can be identified early – but only where staff have the time, training and access to specialist advice.
“This is where [educational psychologists] can make a real difference to support schools to spot early signs, understand underlying causes and put the right support in place before difficulties escalate. This involves focusing not just on attendance, but on helping children to feel safe, included and able to engage with the wider environment.”
Writing for Tes last month, educational psychologist Sue Sheppard said she had seen a steep rise in casework around supporting autistic students with EBSA, adding that schools must find ways to help all autistic pupils feel like they are listened to and valued.
And she warned that teachers need to recognise that overcoming EBSA is an ongoing process.
Dr Sheppard said: “In cases where EBSA becomes more entrenched, rather than just trying to eliminate obstacles, it is useful to consider what might draw pupils back in. When children are so anxious that they cannot attend school for weeks and months, building resilience can only happen once they are in a more positive mental space.
“For example, if you know that students enjoy particular lessons or activities, could they start by coming in just for these sessions?”
‘Exodus of marginalised children’
Tim Linehan, a researcher and campaigner for inclusive schools, is working on a research programme with Sarah Johnson, an expert in social, emotional and mental health support, aimed at finding ways to improve support for pupils who are unable to attend school. This research involves many schools and families in Hackney, East London.
Mr Linehan said the programme is designed to encourage parents and carers of children who are struggling with school to “regain a sense of confidence and agency and to feel empowered to support their children’s education”.
Speaking about the wider issue of ESBNA, he said: “There’s an exodus of marginalised children from our mainstream education system. Whether that’s due to rising exclusion, electively home-educated children – which is not a choice for most – or severe absence, we are seeing the withdrawal of a universal offer of education for marginalised children.
“The government’s failure to deal with EBSNA stems from seeing it as an attendance problem. It’s not. Attendance is the behaviour that schools see because that’s how they are measured.”
Mr Linehan added: “Underneath EBSNA lies a strata of corrosive anxiety which can only be helped by releasing the pressure on the children who experience it.
“Schools are measured on attainment and attendance, and severe absence is no good for either of those, so schools need to be freed from a requirement for children to attend while they are unable to.
“Once that pressure goes, it creates a space where schools and families can work together constructively to support the child – we need to allow room for the instinct of kindness.”