Signposts for School Refusal Interventions, Based on the Views of Stakeholders

Abstract

School refusal (SR) signals a young person’s difficulty attending school. It jeopardizes their development, often contributes to distress for parents, and places an extra burden on school personnel. Reviews of empirical studies indicate that intervention for SR helps to increase school attendance, but not for all youths. This practice-based manuscript aims to support practitioners and organisations addressing the needs of youths and families affected by SR. Specifically, we present 14 signposts for the development and delivery of intervention for SR. The signposts represent important conditions for effective intervention based on key findings from the Knowing What Works project in the Netherlands. During that project, 76 professionals shared their views about the important elements in SR interventions they delivered, and 39 youths and 86 parents shared their views about the helpful elements in SR interventions in which they participated. These 201 stakeholders were variously associated with 21 SR interventions across 9 of the 12 Dutch provinces, most situated in mainstream or special education settings. Their responses informed the development of the 14 signposts presented here, supported by the extant literature on SR intervention. We describe the essence of each signpost and conclude with suggestions for using the signposts and evaluating their utility.

The Unlearning of School Attendance: Ideas for Change

“…As such, alongside training and improvement in how to work within schools and respond to attendance problems, collecting and organizing student behavior to inform effective responses has dominated the field in the last 10 years (Ng et al, 2019). Leading scholars, Heyne et al (2021) on what works and on the response to intervention (RTI) model espouse that growth in conceptualizing problematic absenteeism is still fraught with confusion and lack of consensus. In the United States, many states quickly adopted the multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) approach advanced by Kearney and Graczyk [National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2020] but national data on outcomes are still forthcoming.…”

Qualitative Study Examining Attendance for Secondary School Pupils With Long-Term Physical Health Conditions

“…Attending school is generally linked to a range of benefits for pupils, whilst absence is associated with a range of negative consequences ( Kearney et al, 2022 ). Specifically, school absence has been argued to negatively affect children and young people’s (CYP) academic skills and attainment ( Allison et al, 2019 ; Department for Education, 2016 ; Hancock et al, 2013 ) and reduce their opportunities for social and emotional growth ( Gottfried, 2014 ; Heyne & Brouwer-Borghuis, 2022 ). Being included in the school community creates a “sense of belonging,” which has positive effects on health and well-being ( Haim-Litevsky et al, 2023 ; Pini et al, 2019 ; Riley et al, 2018 ).…”

“…If CYP are not in school, and part of the school community, they can miss consequent health and well-being benefits. Absence from school is linked to increased risks to child welfare, mental health, criminality, depression, violence, and adult unemployment ( The Centre for Social Justice 2023 ; Department for Education, 2022 ; Heyne & Brouwer-Borghuis, 2022 ; Kipp, 2022 ).…”

Revealing underlying factors of absenteeism: A machine learning approach

“…As such, alongside training and improvement in how to work within schools and respond to attendance problems, collecting and organizing student behavior to inform effective responses has dominated the field in the last 10 years ( Ng et al, 2019 ). Leading scholars, Heyne et al (2021) on what works and Kearney and Graczyk (2014) on the response to intervention (RTI) model espouse that growth in conceptualizing problematic absenteeism is still fraught with confusion and lack of consensus. In the United States, many states quickly adopted the multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) approach advanced by Kearney and Graczyk [ National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2020 ] but national data on outcomes are still forthcoming.…”