(Press-News.org) Working paper | Quantitative data analysis | People
Truancy rates have risen faster in developed English-speaking countries since the Covid-19 pandemic than in non-English-speaking countries, according to a new working paper by UCL researchers.
Teenage girls are also increasingly more likely to skip school than boys across Anglophone countries.
In 2022, 26% of all Year 11 pupils in England reported playing truant at least once in the last fortnight. This represented an increase from 2012 and 2018, the previous data capture points, when the figure was at 18% each time.
In the same year (2022), 29% of Year 11 girls in England reported skipping school in the past two weeks, compared to 23% of boys. This gender gap was widest in England, the USA, Ireland, New Zealand and Wales.
Teenagers from lower socio-economic backgrounds were more likely to skip school in England. Pre-pandemic, a fifth (21%) admitted to skipping school, compared to 13% for the most advantaged group. This increased in both groups post-pandemic, as nearly a third (29%) of disadvantaged teenagers admitted playing truant in 2022, compared to just over a fifth (22%) of advantaged teenagers.
The findings, published by UCL’s Social Research Institute, mean the nine Anglophone countries in the developed world have the highest truancy rates for 15-year-olds – and experienced the sharpest rise in rates – out of all OECD countries. The results could have significant policy implications for schools in these countries.
Lead author Professor John Jerrim (UCL Social Research Institute) said: “The increase in Anglophone countries’ truancy rates shows that schools face a huge challenge in re-engaging students and addressing the underlying issues contributing to absences.
“We can attribute the rise largely to girls skipping school more often since the pandemic. It is therefore crucial that we develop and implement targeted interventions to support students and help them stay engaged in their education.”
Wales had the highest gender gap in 2022, with over 40% of girls admitting to truancy, compared to a third of boys.
The researchers also found there was no correlation between the length of school closures during the pandemic and truancy rates. Schools across OECD countries were typically closed for an average of five months, but the authors found no evidence of a direct link between this and the increase in proportion of students skipping school.
For the study, the researchers used data from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which assesses the academic achievement of 15-year-olds in around 80 countries.
In addition to this, over 200 schools were randomly selected in each country, with around 40 students selected in each school, who were sent a questionnaire about their attendance.
The nine English-speaking countries in the study were England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the USA, Australia, Northern Ireland, Canada and New Zealand. The only non-Anglophone OECD countries that experienced a similar increase in truancy since the pandemic are Poland and Italy. The academics say that more research is needed to determine why these two countries have a similar rate to the Anglophone nations.
The researchers speculate that the increase in the proportion of girls skipping schools could be due to rising rates of poor mental health, partly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Professor Jerrim added: “It is as yet unproven, but possible, that teenage girls could be disproportionately affected by mental health challenges arising in the aftermath of the pandemic, meaning they are more likely to skip school on days when they’re experiencing heightened anxiety.”
The researchers stress that more work is needed to investigate the underlying reasons behind the gender gap in truancy rates.
Notes to Editors
For more information or to speak to the researchers involved, please contact:
Kate Corry, UCL Media Relations. T: +44 (0)20 3108 6995 / +44 (0)7539 410 389, E: k.corry@ucl.ac.uk
Professor John Jerrim, UCL Social Research Institute. T: 07590 761 755. E: j.jerrim@ucl.ac.uk
Jake Anders, John Jerrim, Maria Ladrón de Guevara Rodriguez, Oscar David Marcenaro-Gutierrez; ‘The rise in teenagers skipping school across English-speaking countries. Evidence from PISA’ will be published on Tuesday 19th November, 00:01 UK time / Monday 18th November, 19:01 US Eastern time
Paper will be available here once published: http://bit.ly/40K5O6X
Additional material
More work by Professor John Jerrim
About UCL – London’s Global University
UCL is a diverse global community of world-class academics, students, industry links, external partners, and alumni. Our powerful collective of individuals and institutions work together to explore new possibilities.
Since 1826, we have championed independent thought by attracting and nurturing the world's best minds. Our community of more than 50,000 students from 150 countries and over 16,000 staff pursues academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems.
We are consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world and are one of only a handful of institutions rated as having the strongest academic reputation and the broadest research impact.
We have a progressive and integrated approach to our teaching and research – championing innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary working. We teach our students how to think, not what to think, and see them as partners, collaborators and contributors.
For almost 200 years, we are proud to have opened higher education to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to change the way we create and share knowledge.
We were the first in England to welcome women to university education and that courageous attitude and disruptive spirit is still alive today. We are UCL.
www.ucl.ac.uk | Follow @uclnews on Twitter | Read news at www.ucl.ac.uk/news/ | Listen to UCL podcasts on SoundCloud | Find out what’s on at UCL Minds
END
Teenage truancy rates rise in English-speaking countries
2024-11-19
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Cholesterol is not the only lipid involved in trans fat-driven cardiovascular disease
2024-11-18
LA JOLLA (November 14, 2024)—Excess cholesterol is known to form artery-clogging plaques that can lead to stroke, arterial disease, heart attack, and more, making it the focus of many heart health campaigns. Fortunately, this attention to cholesterol has prompted the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and lifestyle interventions like dietary and exercise regimens. But what if there’s more to the picture than just cholesterol?
New research from Salk Institute scientists describes how another class of lipids, called sphingolipids, contributes to arterial plaques and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease ...
Study: How can low-dose ketamine, a ‘lifesaving’ drug for major depression, alleviate symptoms within hours? UB research reveals how
2024-11-18
BUFFALO, N.Y. — University at Buffalo neuroscientists have identified the binding site of low-dose ketamine, providing critical insight into how the medication, often described as a wonder drug, alleviates symptoms of major depression in as little as a few hours with effects lasting for several days.
Published in September in Molecular Psychiatry, the UB discovery will also help scientists identify how depression originates in the brain, and will stimulate research into using ketamine and ketamine-like drugs for other ...
New nasal vaccine shows promise in curbing whooping cough spread
2024-11-18
As whooping cough cases rise in the U.S., a new nasal vaccine developed by Tulane University may hold the key to reducing the spread of the highly contagious respiratory disease.
Current pertussis vaccines are widely used and effective at preventing whooping cough, caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacteria. However, the vaccines fail to clear bacteria from the upper respiratory tract, allowing even vaccinated individuals to spread the disease.
The new vaccine combines the traditional pertussis antigens with an innovative ...
Smarter blood tests from MSU researchers deliver faster diagnoses, improved outcomes
2024-11-18
Image
Highlights:
MSU researchers now can identify more proteins, or biomarkers, in blood plasma, including those linked to specific diseases like cancer.
By identifying these biomarkers earlier, medical researchers can create better diagnostic tests and drugs that target diseases sooner, improving patient outcomes.
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Medical professionals have long known that the earlier a disease is detected, the higher the chance for a better patient outcome. Now, a multidisciplinary team of Michigan State University researchers, in ...
Q&A: A new medical AI model can help spot systemic disease by looking at a range of image types
2024-11-18
Artificial intelligence is making impressive strides in its ability to read medical images. In a recent test in Britain's National Health Service, an AI tool looked at the mammograms of over 10,000 women and correctly identified which patients were found to have cancer. The AI also caught 11 cases doctors had missed. But systemic diseases, such as lupus and diabetes, present a greater challenge for these systems, since diagnosis often involves many kinds of medical images, from MRIs to CT scans.
Sheng Wang, a University ...
For low-risk pregnancies, planned home births just as safe as birth center births, study shows
2024-11-18
CORVALLIS, Ore. – In low-risk pregnancies, mothers and children are just as safe with a planned home birth as they are with a planned birth center birth, a national study led by Oregon State University researchers has shown.
The findings, published in Medical Care, contradict doctors’ long-held concerns about home birth, including a recent opinion by the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians that describes hospitals and accredited birth centers as the safest places to have a baby. A birth center is a health care facility designed to provide a more natural and home-like environment than a hospital.
OSU ...
Leaner large language models could enable efficient local use on phones and laptops
2024-11-18
Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly automating tasks like translation, text classification and customer service. But tapping into an LLM’s power typically requires users to send their requests to a centralized server — a process that’s expensive, energy-intensive and often slow.
Now, researchers have introduced a technique for compressing an LLM’s reams of data, which could increase privacy, save energy and lower costs.
The new algorithm, developed by engineers at Princeton and Stanford Engineering, works by trimming redundancies and reducing the precision of an LLM’s ...
‘Map of Life’ team wins $2 million prize for innovative rainforest tracking
2024-11-18
Traditionally, taking inventory of the species in a rainforest requires sending in a team of experts with field guides and binoculars for a multi-day expedition. But the devastating pace of the destruction of the world’s rainforests and increasing urgency to better monitor and protect what remains demand faster, easier, and more efficient approaches.
Several years ago, a Yale-based team devised an alternate approach: they use lightweight, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to collect this critical biodiversity data in remote areas.
Now they’ve collected ...
Rise in pancreatic cancer cases among young adults may be overdiagnosis
2024-11-18
Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 18 November 2024
@Annalsofim
Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent. ...
New study: Short-lived soda tax reinforces alternative presumptions on tax impacts on consumer behaviors
2024-11-18
Key Takeaway:
When policymakers enact consumption taxes to raise revenue for the government, consumers who oppose the tax may decrease their consumption more, leading to a reduction in tax revenue.
BALTIMORE, MD, November 18, 2024 – One of the most common assumptions tax policymakers make is that by raising taxes, they will raise revenue for the government. However, a new study that centers on a soda tax in Washington state has reinforced alternative presumptions about tax impacts on consumer behaviors.
Researchers found that when Washington state enacted a tax on soda, it not only generated backlash in the consumer marketplace and political ...