04 September 2025
A major new report – Listening to, and learning from, young people in the attendance crisis – published today by Impetus and Public First, warns persistent school absence has become endemic and embedded as a cultural norm, with the online world driving real-world school absenteeism.
Based on focus groups with Year 10 pupils across the country and across the social grades, the research found that despite a strong sense of ambition and a clear desire to succeed in life:
Susannah Hardyman MBE, Chief Executive of Impetus, said:
This report makes sobering reading. Young people, right at the point where education matters most, have told us that going to school is now a choice - decided each morning, shaped by mood, circumstances, or competing priorities.
Not because they don’t want to succeed, but because school, too often, feels rigid, pressured, and exam-driven, and the constant pull of life online means school is no longer the only way to interact with friends.
For young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, these findings are particularly acute. They are already 40% less likely to pass GCSE English and maths and are missing school at a higher rate than their better off peers.
We urgently need to rethink what is driving absence and how it is managed. That means more connection and more choice in a school environment that works for young people, not just on them.
