1.1. This document contains the results of the attendance and absence survey for 2008/09. Information relates to local authority and mainstream grant aided schools only.
Note on interpretation of data
1.2. The data in this publication reports the recorded information on pupils' attendance and absence. However, these records are affected by ongoing differences in recording procedures across local authorities. Comparisons between authorities will therefore be affected by these differences in recording and it should not be stated that other authorities necessarily have, for example, worse sickness or truancy rates. Caution should also be taken when considering year on year national level figures, particularly for sickness, other authorised absence and truancy.
1.3. This year, we have worked with local authorities to highlight the issue of variability in how some schools and local authorities are recording absence. The focus of this work has been to improve the consistency of the use of default settings to report initial absence which may have led to inaccuracies in recording and reporting previously - it is expected that improvements identified will be evidenced in the 2009/10 publication of these data.
Summary information for 2008/09
2.1. The overall rate of attendance was 93.3 per cent, virtually unchanged from 93.2 per cent in 2007/08 ( table 1.2).
2.2. The rate of attendance for primary schools was 95.2 per cent (95.1 per cent in 2007/08). The rate for secondary schools was 91.1 per cent (90.9 per cent in 2007/08). The rate for special schools was 91.3 per cent (91.2 per cent in 2007/08) ( table 1.2).
2.3. As in previous years, attendance at stages P1 to P7 was fairly stable, ranging from 94.9 per cent to 95.4 per cent. It then decreased steadily through to S4 (89.7 per cent), before increasing slightly in S5 and S6. Overall there was little difference in rates between boys and girls. However, boys did have noticeably better attendance rates from S4 to S6 ( table 1.3).
2.4. 83.5 per cent of pupils had an attendance rate of 90 per cent or above (81.1 per cent in 2007/08). 47,400 pupils (6.6 per cent) had a 100 per cent attendance record (35,000 pupils (5 per cent) in 2007/08). The proportion of pupils with a 100 per cent attendance record has increased by around 1.6 percentage points. As last year, these figures only include pupils when they attended a school for more than half of the school year.
Punctuality
3.1. Pupils were recorded late on 1.7 per cent of openings (1.6 in 2007/08) ( table 1.2). Of these 98 per cent were recorded as arriving during the first half of the morning or afternoon.
3.2. As in 2008/09, there was a sharp increase in recorded lateness between P7 and S1, reaching a peak in S4. Boys continue to be late more often than girls in secondary, especially in S6.
Summary absence information
4.1. Absence (authorised and unauthorised) in primary schools was 4.8 per cent, in secondary schools it was 8.8 per cent, and in special schools 8.4 per cent (no significant change on 2007/08) ( table 1.1).
4.2. Absence from school due to temporary exclusion accounted for 0.1 per cent of days, as in the previous three years. Absence due to temporary exclusion in primary schools was 0.02 per cent, in secondary schools it was 0.15 per cent, and in special schools it was 0.33 per cent ( table 1.1).
4.3. As in 2008/09, per pupil, the average total absence in primary schools was under two school weeks (18 half days), out of a possible 38 school weeks; in secondary schools it was just under three and a half school weeks, (34 half days) and in special schools the figure was under three and a half school weeks (33 half days) out of a possible 38 school weeks ( table 1.5).
Analysis of absence
5.1. On average, each day there were around 43,000 pupils absent (6.7 per cent), (45,000 pupils (7 per cent) in 2007/08), of which about 530 were temporarily excluded.
5.2. Absence due to temporary exclusion was higher amongst boys than girls ( table 1.5).
5.3. Pupils living in urban areas were absent more often than those in rural areas ( table 1.11).
5.4. In general, pupils living in areas with higher levels of deprivation had higher levels of absence, with the effect being greater in secondary school. Pupils living in areas associated with most deprivation (based on lowest five per cent of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2006 ( SIMD)) were on average 14 days more absent than pupils living in areas associated with least deprivation (based on highest five per cent of the SIMD) ( Chart 1.13).
5.5. Pupils with Additional Support Needs in mainstream schools were on average absent for 5 days more than other pupils in those schools, with the difference being greater in secondary school.( table 1.16). Of these, pupils with social and emotional behavioural difficulty have the highest rate of absence ( table 1.17a).
5.6. Children looked after by local authorities were on average absent for 10 days more than other pupils, with those looked after at home missing on average just under 6 weeks of school ( table 1.14).
5.7. Attendance rates varied across the different ethnic groups, from around 96 per cent among Asian Chinese to 78 per cent among Gypsy travellers ( table 1.20).
5.8. Pupils who were assessed and/or declared as having a disability had lower attendance rates (92.1 per cent) than other pupils (93.4 per cent) ( table 1.18).
5.9. Attendance rates varied by the extent to which English was an additional language. Pupils who were new to English (88.7 per cent) had lower attendance rates than pupils who were fluent in English (93.4 per cent) ( table 1.21).
Local authority analysis.
6.1. The percentage attendance in primary schools by local authority ranged from 93.2 per cent (Glasgow City) to 96.4 per cent (East Dunbartonshire), and in secondary schools from 89.1 per cent (Glasgow City) to 94.3 per cent (East Renfrewshire) ( tables 2.1-2.2). This range of variation in attendance rates is unchanged on 2007/08.