{"id":200686,"date":"2024-03-08T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=200686"},"modified":"2024-03-07T22:55:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T22:55:30","slug":"ascl-president-urges-change-of-tone-as-parental-disputes-drive-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/ascl-president-urges-change-of-tone-as-parental-disputes-drive-absence\/","title":{"rendered":"ASCL president urges ‘change of tone’ as parental disputes drive absence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A \u201cchange of tone\u201d in the national conversation about education is needed, the ASCL president will warn this morning, as almost half of leaders reported they had seen pupil absence because of disputes with parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Camp, the chief executive of the Compass Partnership of Schools, will describe the findings as an \u201cextreme \u2013 but apparently common \u2013 example of the fracturing of [the] unwritten social contract\u201d between schools and families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John
John Camp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Teacher Tapp polling for the leadership union found 32 per cent of teachers and leaders reported absence where the reason was that parents or carers were \u201cin dispute with school\u201d. This rose to 48 per cent when just leaders were asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools Week<\/em> investigations have revealed staff are receiving more abuse, with trusts introducing codes of conduct, writing letters to parents about their \u201cpersonally abusive\u201d complaints, and calls for a national campaign to prevent it.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other common reasons cited by leaders included families wanting to take term-time holidays (95 per cent), attending family events (88 per cent), and pupils being \u201ctoo anxious about school\u201d (76 per cent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Potshots at schools’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In his speech to ASCL\u2019s conference in Liverpool<\/a>, Camp is to warn it \u201coften seems like some politicians and commentators are far too quick to take potshots at schools\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s by leaping on important and sensitive issues \u2013 like sex education and trans or gender-questioning pupils \u2013 to generate a cheap headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOr banning mobile phones \u2013 when most schools have already done this or whether the school day should be five minutes longer. It sometimes feels like death by press release.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camp will say there are \u201cmany stories\u201d behind absence statistics, \u201cbut what I find alarming is those reasons which suggest absence from school may not be seen in the way it used to\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd in particular, it is surprising that some children are kept at home because of a dispute with the school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mental health and attendance support needed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

He will call for \u201ctangible solutions\u201d – such as greater investment in mental health support for children and attendance support services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I think something else is also needed. And that is a change of tone in the national conversation about education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn acknowledgement that everybody in public life must do more to talk up the many good things about schools and colleges, and to talk about teaching as the noble profession it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a good education system \u2013 it could easily be great. We should be very proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He will warn that \u201cif politicians and commentators are constantly running down teachers and schools, and giving the impression that we can\u2019t be trusted, then they\u2019re helping to create a division\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t, of course, think that this \u2013 on its own \u2013 is the reason for that fracturing of the social contract that I spoke about. But it certainly doesn\u2019t help. It creates a febrile climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd when social media is added into the mix, things can get very nasty very quickly. As I am sure many of us have experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politicians and commentators ‘far too quick to take potshots at schools’, says trust CEO John Camp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":136016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[30,28,239],"post-theme":[2524],"class_list":["post-200686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ascl","tag-dfe","tag-education-policy","post-theme-attendance"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t