Texting parents about the number of days of school their child has missed can help improve attendance, according to a new study.
Researchers found the texts had a larger impact on parents than those highlighting a child’s attendance in percentage terms.
In a trial involving more than 100 secondary schools in England, around 36,000 parents received the texts saying, for example: “Ella missed five days of school last term”, rather than their usual school communications about absence.
It had a larger impact on pupils eligible for free school meals, girls, and pupils in Year 8, the study found.
Of the 781 parents who were surveyed at the end of the trial who received the ‘days missed’ text messages, more than half (51%) reported taking action by discussing attendance with their child or monitoring it more closely.
Receiving texts highlighting days missed was associated with 15 extra days of attendance per 100 pupils across five half terms, or 0.21 fewer missed days of school per pupil.
While the impact on attendance was small, it cost just over £1 per pupil – reduced to 29p once the scheme was set up.
Read more: More children than ever are not in school, report finds
Emily Yeomans, co-chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), which funded an analysis of the trial along with the Youth Endowment Fund, said: “The attendance crisis is one of the biggest issues currently facing schools across England.
“Good attendance is critical to ensure young people keep up with the curriculum and ultimately are able to reach their full potential.”
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She added: “These findings could signal some simple tweaks that could be made to help strengthen communications between school and home and make a real difference to young people’s engagement and outcomes.”
NAHT school leaders’ union general secretary Paul Whiteman welcomed the findings, but said schools are not usually equipped to address all the root causes of absence.
“Greater investment is also needed in mental health services and social care, which have been underfunded over the last decade, with vital roles like education welfare officers who worked directly with families to improve attendance being cut,” he said.
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Latest figures show the overall absence rate for the school year 2024/25 was 6.9%, down slightly from 7.1% in 2023/24 and 7.4% in 2022/23.
However, severe absence rates – when a pupil has missed half or more of their sessions – have seen a small increase from 2% in 2022/23 to 2.3% in 2023/24.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said in August tackling absences was a “top priority”.
The Department for Education has announced attendance and behaviour hubs will support around 600,000 pupils in 800 schools.
