Emotionally based school non-attendance: Development of a local authority, multi-agency approach to supporting regular attendance

According to Government guidance in the UK, improving attendance is everyone's business. This article sets out the work of one local authority to develop their own multi-agency approach to reduce rates of emotionally based school non-attendance. The Research and Development in Organisations model provided a structure for the action research process, which consisted of cycles of action and reflection, including awareness raising, reflections on current practice, and the integration of stakeholder views, resulting in an organisational culture shift and the production of professional guidance materials. Content analysis suggests that the development of a localised approach required time, with multi-agency collaboration to promote shared ownership of the products and processes across all stakeholders and to enhance uptake of positive changes to practice. Factors that facilitated the process included response to local need, multi-agency collaboration and positive feedback, while diminished capacity and misconceptions about roles and responsibilities in monitoring and improving attendance were barriers to change. The findings provide further evidence for the role of multi-agency working in the development of strategic support for school attendance difficulties to promote organisational change. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of these approaches to better inform future support at an organisational level.