News report: “Children missing from Education”
A report published by the Education Policy Institute on 4th December 2024 has highlighted that there are up to 300,000 children missing from education entirely.
“By comparing GP registrations with school registrations and data on pupils in registered home education for the first time, EPI finds that there may be up to 300,000 children missing entirely from education in 2023, a 40 per cent increase from 2017.[1]
Up to 400,000 children are estimated to be not in school, a 50 per cent increase. According to available data the number of formally registered home-educated children has increased by over 100 per cent from 2017 to almost 95,000 children in 2023.
Additionally, using Department for Education data, findings show that over 50,000 pupils ever registered in a state school, or around 8 per cent of the cohort, leave the system and are not in a mainstream school, alternative provision or an independent school by year 11. Schools are not required to record the reasons for pupils leaving their rolls, and we do not know how many of these exits are due to migration out of the country.
Certain groups are at a higher risk of exiting the English education system permanently:
•75 per cent of Traveller pupils and 50 per cent of Gypsy/Roma pupils.
•Almost a fifth of persistently disadvantaged pupils (those who are eligible for free school meals for at least 80 per cent of relevant terms) and
permanently excluded pupils.
•Approximately 1 in 8 care-experienced pupils.
The number of system exits rises significantly through secondary school and peaks in year 10 before pupils sit their GCSEs. Around a fifth of all exits through the primary and secondary phases occur in year 10.
Finally, the report looks at pupils who leave a mainstream state school for at least one term but are re-registered by year 11. Pupils with social, emotional, or mental health difficulties and care-experienced children were more than twice as likely to miss a period of mainstream education during the primary or secondary phases, compared with the overall cohort.“
Richard Daniel Curtis (Chair of the National Committee) has commented “This report highlights some concerning data. We are aware of some of the correlation of this data with mental health, possibly the child’s own mental health, or possibly familial mental health. We would encourage more understanding, resources and support for children missing from education at a national level to help understand and address the root causes of this data.” Quoted 10/12/2024.
Read the full report and recommendations here: https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/children-missing-from-education/
Source: Education Policy Institute, Nov 2024.