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Department of Education - Attendance Survey - for adults
Page 1 of 3
Closes
6 Mar 2026
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Introduction
1. What is your age?
(Required)
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-53
54-64
65+
2. What is your postcode ?(First 4 digits only e.g. BT05, BT19): (Optional)
Postcode
3. What is the main capacity in which you are responding?
(Required)
Parent / Grandparent / Guardian
Student
School Principal / Teacher / Education Professional
Non-Teaching Staff at a school
Researcher
Member of the public
Business
Elected Representative
FE / HE
Other (please specify)
Other capacity under which you are responding
4. Do you have any children/grandchildren/school age dependents?
(Required)
Yes (Go to Q5)
No (Go to Q6)
5. What school sectors do they attend?
Pre-School
Primary
Post Primary
Special
6. How important is it for children to attend school regularly?
(Required)
Very important
Important
No views either way
Not very important
Unimportant
7. What percentage of attendance at school would you regard as acceptable?
(Required)
95%+
90%–94%
85%-89%
80%–84%
Less than 80%
8. Does your child's school, or the school that you are associated with explain the importance of good attendance to parents and pupils?
(Required)
Yes
No
Don't know
9. What are the main issues regarding regular attendance at school? (You can only choose a maximum of 3 in priority order where 1 is the most important)
(Required)
Family stress
-- Please Select --
1
2
3
Transport
-- Please Select --
1
2
3
School uniform / costs
-- Please Select --
1
2
3
Bullying
-- Please Select --
1
2
3
Relationships with teachers
-- Please Select --
1
2
3
Mental health
-- Please Select --
1
2
3
Cost of living
-- Please Select --
1
2
3
Other (please give details in box below)
-- Please Select --
1
2
3
Other issues regarding regular attendance at school
10. What are the factors, in your experience that make it difficult for children to attend school? (Select all that apply)
(Required)
Illness
Behavioural issues
Family stress
Parental mental health
Travel challenges
Parental working hours
Problems at school eg bullying
Childs relationship with teachers
Don't know
Other (please feel free to use text box below)
Other factors that make it difficult for children to attend school.
11. What would help in overcoming these challenges?
(Required)
Children being met by a trusted person in the morning at school
Well-being support for you
Well-being support for your child
Smaller classes
Less homework
Fewer exams
More effective support for pupils
Later start time in the morning
Fines for non-attendance
Other (state below)
Other opinions for what would help in overcoming attendance challenges
12. How often do you encounter anxiety in a child/children/dependent about going to school?
(Required)
Not very often (1-2 times per year)
Every so often (3-6 times per year)
Regularly (1-2 times per month)
Very often (1-2 times per week)
Every day
Don't know
13. To what extent do schools provide adequate support for families to enable children to attend school regularly?
(Required)
1 - No support
2 - Limited support
3 - Don't know
4 - Helpful support
5 - Very helpful support
14. To what extent do you agree that booking term time holidays is acceptable?
(Required)
Strongly agree
Agree
Agree in some circumstances
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Don't know
15. To what extent do you think the "Attendance Matters" strategy will help address the issues associated with pupil attendance?
(Required)
Very helpful
Helpful
Moderately helpful
Not at all helpful
Don't know / no comment
16. Which aspects of the "Attendance Matters" strategy are most helpful? (Tick all that apply)
(Required)
Executive Summary
The statistics
The link between attendance and examinations
References to Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA)
Indicators of effective performance
Collaboration and engagement
Roles and responsibilities
Examples of effective practice
Other (please state in box below)
Other aspects of the revised strategy that are helpful
17. Do you agree with the overall aim of the "Attendance Matters" strategy to support children and young people to attend school every day?
(Required)
Yes
No
Don't know
Do you agree with the overall aim of the Attendance Matters Strategy to support children and young people to attend school every day?
18. What role do you think parents, schools, statutory bodies and communities should play in improving attendance?
What role do you think parents, schools, statutory bodies and communities should play in improving attendance?
(Required)
19. What partnerships between schools and community organisations have you seen work well?
What partnerships between schools and community organisations have you seen work well?
20. What support do you think schools need to better respond to pupils with Emotional Health and Wellbeing issues eg Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA)?
What support do you think schools need to better respond to pupils with Emotional Health and Wellbeing issues eg Emotional Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA)?
(Required)
21. Do you think school provides a nurturing and trauma-informed environment?
(Required)
Yes
No - please give a reason/s for this answer using the text box below
Don't know
Do you think school provides a nurturing and trauma-informed environment?
22. Have you seen relational or restorative practices used effectively in schools? If so, how?
(Required)
Yes
No
Don't know
Have you seen relational or restorative practices used effectively in your school? If so, how?
23. How confident are you that schools are using attendance data effectively to manage pupil attendance?
(Required)
Very confident
Confident
No views either way
Not confident
Not at all confident
24. What type of early interventions do you think are most effective in improving attendance?
(Required)
Better involvement with Education Welfare Service
Better involvement with Intercultural Education Service
Quicker CAMHS assessments
Firmer consequences for non-attendance
Other (please use text box)
Don't know
What type of early interventions do you think are most effective in improving attendance?
25. What do you think should be done to identify and support children missing from formal education? (Children missing education (CME) are children of compulsory school age who are not on a school roll and are not receiving education in any other setting such as home education or private school)
What do you think should be done to identify and support children missing from formal education?
26. Do you agree with the proposed measures of success set out in section 4 of the draft strategy?
(Required)
Yes
No
Don't know
How should success be measured in improving attendance support service
27. How should schools report and evaluate their attendance strategies?
(Required)
Consult and share findings with parents
Consult and share findings with pupils
Consult and share findings with Boards of Governors
Evaluate against DE published data
Discuss in local Principals groups
Don't know
28. Please provide any further information or comment that you may have regarding the draft attendance strategy.
Please provide any further information or comment regarding the draft attendance strategy.
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