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I have a professional background in childcare and education. I was inspired to enrol at university as a mature student following close family experiences of school-based anxiety and attendance difficulties. Further extensive voluntary contact with other families developed through establishing an online peer support group. This highlighted that many families are experiencing similar issues in accessing help for children, which intensified my drive to improve understanding of school attendance difficulties. 

My undergraduate dissertation explored family experiences of 'school refusal'. School refusal is the commonly used label for school non-attendance related to truancy. Here, children are inaccurately viewed as choosing not to attend, rather than being unable to attend. Triggers that are barriers to attendance often relate to unmet special educational needs or unsupported medical needs in school, bullying, and academic pressure. This dissertation along with my lived experience has inspired my current PhD research.

Institute for Research in Criminology and Community and Social Justice

School attendance and absence. Mental health support in schools. Alternative education. Home education. Education policy. Special educational needs and disabilities. Parenting. Online research methods

BA (Hons) Education Studies (Â鶹ƵµÀ) and MA Photographic History (Â鶹ƵµÀ)

This research has been awarded a DMU High Flyers scholarship.
The Frank May Silver Award (Â鶹ƵµÀ) (July 2015)

Title

The social construction of school refusal: Parental perspectives

Abstract

Research into school non-attendance has found that pupils, parents and professionals often have differing views of the main causes of non-attendance and of appropriate methods to resolve non-attendance; yet the voices of parents have been missed out, and have only recently begun to feature with any significance in research studies. This study therefore explores school non-attendance from parental perspectives, which could offer alternative insights into relevant issues. Parent accounts of navigating existing pathways to support will be analysed, with the aim of identifying aspects where policy development will improve access to supportive provision.

Dr Sarah Younie and Dr Motje Wolf and Dr Sally Ruane