Schools reward pupils with iPads and bikes for turning up to lessons
Schools are giving pupils iPads and bicycles as a reward for turning up to lessons, a report has found.
The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found schoolchildren are receiving incentives including pizza parties, school trips and prize draws as headteachers try to tackle high absence rates.
Earlier this month, it emerged pupils are missing an extra 4.7 million school days every term after the pandemic caused truancy rates to soar.
A record number of pupils are missing more than half of lessons, Department for Education statistics revealed last week.
The report, based on interviews with staff and pupils at nine secondary schools and survey responses from 600 secondary teachers, said schools that combined reward with sanctions had seen 'higher pupil engagement' with attendance policies as children felt motivated to attend.
Incentives in schools for high attendance included prize draws – with rewards such as bikes and iPads – and pizza parties.
In some schools, pupils who did not attend regularly were banned from attending the Year 11 prom or trips.
The report advised headteachers to pursue 'individualised' approaches to improve attendance.
This could include ensuring that attendance and behaviour policies 'prioritise encouragement and support over sanctions,' it added.
The study suggests illness, mental health issues were partly to blame but some parents were choosing to take their children with them on holiday during term-time.
Prioritise 'encouraging'
Matt Walker, NFER senior research manager and co-author of the report, said: 'Attendance is strongly linked to educational outcomes, so it's concerning that absence rates remain high.
'The study responses suggest schools should consider prioritising encouraging and individualised approaches in addition to punitive sanctions.'
Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said: 'These findings echo what school leaders tell us about the severe limitations of parental fines in improving pupil attendance.
'Absence most often reflects issues beyond the school gate, like mental health challenges and poverty, and clearly identifying and being able to support families to address these issues is far more effective.'
He added: 'If the link between absence and term-time holidays is to be broken, the only sustainable solution is government action to prevent travel firms unfairly hiking prices during school holidays.'
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