Rewarding School Attendance Risks Creating Bad Habits In Our Children

Schools are under pressure to cut down on student absence (Pic: Getty Creative)

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Schools are increasingly turning to attendance rewards to tackle rising levels of student absence – but this risks creating bad habits in our children that could linger into their working lives.

Three years since the start of the pandemic – and two years since most nationwide lockdowns were lifted – school attendance levels have still not returned to pre-Covid levels.

Schools in England, for example, recorded an overall absence rate of 7.8% from September to December last year, well up on the 4.7% of 2018/19, the last full pre-coronavirus year, a pattern repeated in other Western economies.

Policy-makers have responded by putting a renewed focus on attendance, pressuring schools to take a firmer line.

And this in turn is prompting school leaders to use the limited tools at their disposal, principally the use of attendance rewards, giving children prizes for 100% attendance.

Alongside this, we have seen schools encouraging parents to send their children in when they have coughs and colds, on the grounds these are just minor illnesses. If this wasn’t a bad idea pre-Covid, it certainly seems one now.

There are a number of reasons why attendance rewards are a bad idea. One is that they effectively penalize students who have a chronic condition that means they will always need to take time off school, whether it’s for hospital appointments or are simply too ill to go in.

Some schools try to compensate for this by saying these students can still qualify for 100% attendance, but this brings its own complications. Who decides which conditions meet this threshold and which do not?

(Another version of attendance rewards is denying students access to extracurricular activities – such as school trips or prom – because of poor attendance, which is, if anything, even more problematic.)

A second objection is that it’s hard to see how rewards could work. The students who are incentivized to keep coming to school are those whose attendance is almost 100% anyway, not the ones with low attendance. They know the 100% target is unattainable, and so not worth aiming for.

If all the policy is designed to achieve is improve the attendance figures, then it could be counted a success. But if the aim is to improve attendance among those who would actually benefit from more time at school then it is doomed to failure.

But perhaps even more fundamental a drawback of attendance rewards – and one that is routinely neglected – is the danger of encouraging bad habits in children that could haunt them when they enter the workforce.

Along with working extra hours, working when unwell has been given the label presenteeism, and is one of the most toxic elements of workplace culture.

Not only is presenteeism a less productive way of working, it can also lead to long-term damage to health as employees feel pressured into continuing working, exacerbating existing conditions as well as increasing stress and its related illnesses. This is not a habit we want to encourage in our children.

The culture of presenteeism is one of the reasons many companies were initially resistant to allow employees to continue working flexibly once pandemic lockdowns were lifted, until they realized that it made for a happier and more productive workforce.

Attendance rewards threaten to extend that culture into schools, making physical presence the focus, regardless of whether it is good for their – or for anyone else’s – health.

While it is understandable that schools feel they must take action to cut down on absence, attendance rewards are not the answer.

Pressuring children to come into school at all costs risks instilling the belief that they must battle through illness just so they can be present. Attendance rewards reinforce that belief, and should have no place in schools.