Tackling school attendance problems in Ireland

1. Introduction

Across countries, there is growing recognition of the importance of ensuring that all learners can participate fully in education and benefit from supportive learning environments. However, data show that not all students attend school regularly and that school attendance problems (SAP) have become a challenge affecting classrooms in nearly every country, including in Ireland, with the COVID-19 pandemic further worsening absence rates. Results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 indicate that as many as 8% of 15-year-old students, on average across OECD countries, had missed school for more than three consecutive months during their previous educational journey (OECD, 2023[1]). In Ireland, while the overall percentage stood below the OECD average (5%), disparities within long-term absences exist. Socio-economically disadvantaged students and students with an immigrant background reported missing school at a higher rate (7% for both groups) compared to their advantaged and non-immigrant peers (4% and 5%, respectively).

While long-term absences are relatively low in Ireland from an internationally comparative perspective, truancy1 rates remain high (Figure 1). More than 40% of students in Ireland reported that they had skipped a day of school at least once in the two weeks prior to the PISA test, double the OECD average of 20%. Moreover, disadvantaged students reported doing so at a higher rate compared to their advantaged peers (46% and 37%, respectively), a pattern that can be seen in almost every other OECD country too. The difference between students with and without an immigrant background was not statistically significant in Ireland.

Figure 1. Truancy (2022)

Percentage of 15-year-old students who skipped a day of school at least once in the two weeks prior to the PISA test

Note: * Caution is required when interpreting estimates because one or more PISA sampling standards were not met (see Reader’s Guide, Annexes A2 and A4 in OECD (2023[2]).

Sorted in ascending order by the overall percentage.

Source: OECD (2023[1]), PISA 2022 Results (Volume II): Learning During – and From – Disruption, Tables II.B1.3.37-38, https://doi.org/10.1787/a97db61c-en.

Local data reveal the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated SAP in Ireland (TESS, 2025[3]). The share of students who lost 20 or more school days remained relatively stable between 2003/4 and 2017/18 at around 12% in primary schools and 16% in secondary schools. Between 2018/19 and 2019/20, absence rates declined, likely due to the shift to online learning during pandemic-related school closures, which made attendance monitoring more challenging (Smyth, Hingre and Darmody, 2024[4]). After schools re-opened, the share of students missing 20 or more days of school rose sharply between 2019/20 and 2021/22. In 2022/23, non-attendance rates declined again, with a larger improvement in primary schools than in secondary schools.

Local data also confirm that these problems are more pronounced among schools that serve socio‑economically disadvantaged students and students with special education needs (SEN). DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools) schools, which receive extra resources because they have the highest concentrations of students at risk of educational disadvantage, have consistently higher absence rates across urban and rural settings in both primary and secondary levels (TESS, 2022[5]; TESS, 2023[6]; TESS, 2024[7]; TESS, 2025[3]). For instance, in 2023/24, 28% of students in DEIS secondary schools lost 20 or more days of schooling, while only 19% of students in non-DEIS schools did so (TESS, 2025[3]). Moreover, while 19% of students in mainstream primary schools lost 20 or more days of schooling, the share stood at 42% in special schools (25% in mainstream schools with special classes) (ibid.).

1.1. Key challenges in Ireland

Similarly to other education systems, Ireland faces some challenges related to SAP that are rooted in monitoring limitations, institutional constraints and school-level disparities. The key issues introduced here are explored more comprehensively in the following sections, which analyse how legal, policy and governance frameworks influence national and local responses.

Monitoring challenges related to SAP in Ireland include difficulties linking data on student characteristics and outcomes with absence data. Moreover, there is a need for more qualitative data to better understand SAP, as factors such as student well-being, family circumstances and mental health often go unreported in attendance records, complicating policy and response efforts.

In Ireland, schools are responsible for reporting attendance data to Tusla Education Support Services (TESS) (TESS, n.d.[8]). However, TESS lacks the authority to enforce reporting and there are no penalties if schools do not report. As such, data collected are not fully comprehensive. In 2022/23, for instance, only 78% and 71% of primary and secondary schools, respectively, submitted the Annual Attendance Reports (TESS, 2024[7]).

Additionally, Irish schools report only twice a year the number of students (aged 6-16) who miss 20 or more school days in the school year through a secure online portal (TESS, 2023[6]). Annually, schools also report total school days lost due to absence, numbers of students expelled and suspensions. Absences must be categorised by illness, urgent family reasons, holidays, suspensions and other reasons (ibid.). TESS, in conjunction with the Department of Education and Youth, aggregates and publishes these data, but several gaps persist. For instance, data on SEN (apart from reduced school days and students in special needs schools), gender identity, sexual orientation and giftedness are not collected. While some schools gather socio-economic and ethnic data (e.g. Traveller and Roma populations), individual-level access, crucial for measuring intervention impacts, is unavailable to TESS. TESS faces further challenges in linking students’ outcomes with absence data, including academic outcomes and population-wide well-being information, possibly due to some barriers in effective cross-agency co-ordination.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Ireland has also seen a noticeable rise in casual non-attendance due to changing parental perceptions about daily schooling, the cost-of-living crisis, transportation issues, and increased suspensions or expulsions in special schools, potentially linked to pandemic closures.

These challenges are present in a system where teachers may lack relevant capacity to support attendance, and where system priorities may not consistently shape school practice without leadership engagement.

To address some of these concerns, this Education Policy Perspectives paper is structured as follows. Section 2 summarises key features of the governance, legal and policy frameworks on school attendance in Ireland and other countries. Section 3 then focuses on key enablers that can drive change in strengthening the legal and policy framework around SAP in Ireland. It outlines collaboration among departments and agencies in regard to SAP, engagement and responsibilities of parents as well as wider education community, data collection and leadership. The final section provides a summary of the findings and some policy considerations.

Note

← 1.  Truancy is measured as the percentage of 15-year-old students who skipped a day of school at least once in the two weeks prior to the PISA test.