Non-attendance in English state schools better than in Covid years but persistent non-attendance still double pre-pandemic rates
The education secretary has admitted that there is “more work to be done” to improve pupil attendance rates in England, after official figures showed levels of persistent absence remain double those of pre-pandemic years.
The figures for the 2022-23 school year published by the Department for Education confirmed that pupils at state schools in England were absent at much higher rates than before Covid, including authorised absences for illness as well as unauthorised absences.
