Included, engaged and involved: part 1 - attendance in Scottish schools
Guidance on the management of attendance and absence in Scottish schools.
10. Attendance and absence data recording and management
10.1 Recording and coding
School and local authority Management Information Systems should reflect the data specification consulted on and agreed between education authorities and the Scottish Government through the ScotXed programme, as published on www.scotxed.net. Guidance Notes and associated Advice Notes are also available for schools and local authorities on the ScotXed website to further assist understanding of the correct recording of attendance and absence.
10.2 Using data effectively
The most purposeful use of data is at school-level, to inform school development and planning to meet individual pupils' needs.
At individual level, many schools set a threshold for attendance, triggering specific responses when a pupil falls below this. Monitoring of individual patterns of attendance and absence can help staff, pupils and parents identify support needs or isolate causes of concern. Absence may reflect other patterns in school or home life.
Class and whole-school monitoring can contribute to schools' quality assurance and development planning processes.
Many schools which have succeeded in improving attendance significantly, have focused on school data for periods of concerted effort in checking unexplained absence in order to ensure coding is correct and targeting pupils where attendance is just above, or below a threshold in order to plan for improved attendance at individual level, or to tackle difficulties identified in classes or departments.
10.3 Recording and coding information
The information below is taken from ScotXed guidance on recording and coding which is available from https://www.scotxed.net. For the purposes of this document - links to the appropriate guidance sections have been inserted.
| Attendance/ Absence Reason |
Attendance/Absence Code |
Notes on Completion |
Authorised/ Unauthorised Absence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extended leave with parental consent |
02 |
-Extended leave with parental consent is not to be considered the same as a family holiday. Extended leave with parental consent should be recorded separately outside the figures for attendance and absence, and includes circumstances such as:
See 3.5 Diverse school communities for further information This will not be included within the Attendance and Absence statistics calculations, either in the numerator or denominator. |
|
| Attendance |
10 |
Include
See 2 Managing attendance and absence for further information |
Attendance |
| Late 1: Arrives before 50% of opening |
11 |
Where a pupil has arrived late but during the first half of the opening, this will be marked as late (L1). This is regardless of whether the lateness is for a valid reason. See 2.7 Registration and recording lateness for further information |
Attendance |
| Work experience |
12 |
Include
See 2.3 Wherever learning takes place for further information |
Attendance |
| Sickness with educational provision |
13 |
This may include time spent on sick leave or maternity leave, with proof such as a parental letter or medical certificate, and where adequate educational provision has been made. Adequate educational provision is as set out in Circular 5/2001. Guidance on Education of Children Absent from school through Ill-health. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/education/gecas-00.asp See 2.4 Providing for pupils during long-term illness for further information |
Attendance |
| Sickness with no education provision |
20 |
This would include any time where a pupil is off sick, with proof of illness such as a parental letter or medical certificate, and section 14 of Education (Scotland) Act 1980 is not applicable. See Circular 5/2001, and Guidance on Education of Children Absent from school through Ill-health. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/education/gecas-00.asp |
Authorised |
| Late 2: Arrives after 50% of opening |
21 |
Where a pupil has arrived late but during the second half of the opening, then this will be marked as Late (L2). This recording is regardless of whether the lateness is for a valid reason. For schools using period-by-period registration, any registration in periods beginning in the second half of the opening, without any registration in periods beginning in the first half of the opening, will be converted to an overall L2 code for the opening (even if a later period is subsequently missed). See 2.7 Registration and recording lateness for further information |
Authorised |
| Family holidays authorised by school |
22 |
Under exceptional circumstances schools can authorise a family holiday during term time. Such circumstances may include:
A family holiday classified under the "authorised absence" category should not include reasons such as:
See 3.6 Family holidays during term time for further information |
Authorised |
| Exceptional domestic circumstances (authorised) |
23 |
This relates to short-term exceptional domestic circumstances. Absences related to short-term exceptional domestic circumstances can be classified as either authorised or unauthorised absence. Authorised absence under this heading covers situations such as:
See 4.8 Exceptional domestic circumstances for further information |
Authorised |
| Other authorised absence |
24 |
Includes
See 3.5 Diverse school communities, 3.2 Children with complex lives, and 3.4 Different lives, different needs for further information |
Authorised |
| Medical and dental |
25 |
See 3.3 Medical and Dental appointments. For those recording period by period, any opening that contains at least 1 session of attendance will be converted to 'attendance' for statistical purposes. For schools with one registration per opening, a medical and dental recording should be recorded as 'attendance' if the pupils attends for any part of the opening, for statistical purposes. It is assumed that the school will note the fact that the pupil was not in attendance for the full opening, for legal purposes. |
Authorised |
| Family holidays not authorised by school |
30 |
Under exceptional circumstances schools can authorise a family holiday during term time. Such circumstances may include:
A family holiday classified under the "authorised absence" category should not include reasons such as:
See 3.6 family holidays for further information |
Unauthorised |
| Truancy, including unexplained absence |
31 |
Include all absence for which no adequate explanation has been provided See 4. Managing unauthorised absence for further information |
Unauthorised |
| Exceptional domestic circumstances (unauthorised) |
32 |
Under section 14 of the 1980 Act as amended by section 40 of the SSSA 2000 Act, education authorities must make special arrangements to ensure young people with care responsibilities do not miss out on their entitlement to an education. If a pupil is unable to attend school due to care responsibilities, there is an expectation that additional support services will be assessed to support the pupil, and their absence from education will not be long-term and therefore categorised as authorised absence. However, where additional services have not been accessed by the pupil and care responsibilities become long-term, the absence should be categorised as unauthorised absence. See 4.8 Long-term domestic circumstances for further information |
Unauthorised |
| Other unauthorised absence |
33 |
Include any other reasons for unauthorised absence; e.g. where a parent is refusing to send their child to school following a dispute with school, or when a parent refuses to sign a behaviour agreement following an exclusion. See 4. Managing unauthorised absence and 2. Managing attendance and absence for further information. |
Unauthorised |
| Temporary exclusion |
40 |
Include all pupils excluded from school on a temporary basis. Information should be consistent with that supplied in the exclusions data. Where a decision has been taken to remove a pupil from the register following an exclusion, the school is not expected to continue to mark the pupil as absent. For further clarification please refer to the ScotXed Advice Note SXD04/2006 - "Accurate recording of absence of pupils who are excluded from school for a period of time on a 'temporary' basis." See 3.7 Exclusion from School for further information |
Separate category of absence |
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