A new parent poll published today by national charity Parentkind reveals the challenges facing the country’s parents in getting their children to go to school. The charity is calling for an end to the “finger wagging” approach with more support for parents.
- 48% of UK parents think fining parents could be an effective approach to preventing children from regularly missing school.
- 1 in 3 parents (34%) have arguments with their children about going to school every week.
- Almost a third (31%) of children have refused to go to school on more than one occasion in the last year, equivalent to almost 3.3 million school children.
Parentkind commissioned Censuswide, a member of the British Polling Council, to poll 1,000 UK parents of children aged 4-16 between February 10th to February 12th. The poll has been weighted to be nationally representative of parents.
In news that will challenge those blaming parents for not getting their children to school, 96% of UK parents agree with the Government that it is important that children should go to school every day if they can. Only 4% of parents disagree.
Parents continue to be split on the issue of fines for absence. Although almost half of parents (48%) agree with Education Secretary that fines could be part of an effective approach to improving school attendance a significant 4 in 10 (38%) disagree. The Parentkind charity is calling for fines to be used with caution and “only where the evidence shows they might be effective”.
Getting children to school every day leads to arguments at home for 1 in 3 (34%) of parents at least once a week with 1 in 20 (6%) having an argument with their children every single day.
1 in 6 (15%) parents said that “not enjoying school” was the reason their children missing school in the last year. This figure doubles for parents of children at secondary school (20% vs 11% of parents of children at primary school). The Parentkind charity has led calls for the Curriculum and Assessment Review to put school enjoyment top of its list of priorities after a previous Parentkind poll of parents found the 50% of children were bored of school.
The SEN crisis came second in the list of reasons for school absence given by parents with 1 in 10 (9%) parents saying lack of SEN provision was a reason for their children missing school in the last year.
School refusal has become a big topic since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. This poll of parents found almost a third (31%) of children have refused to go to school on more than one occasion in the last year, equivalent to almost 3.3 million school children. Digging a deeper into the data, Parentkind found that of parents who said their children have refused to go to school on more than one occasion in the last year, 1 in 10 (10%) missed two or more weeks of school – equivalent to 330,000 school children.
In more positive news for Government ministers, almost half of parents (46%) say it is getting easier to get their child to school every day with parents winning the battle on school attendance. 1 in 5 (19%) parents of children at secondary school told the charity that it is getting harder to get their children to school every day.
Commenting on the poll, Parentkind Chief Executive, Jason Elsom said:
“These results show parents agree that everyday matters. Children should go to school if they can and 96% of parents agree, the rhetoric over school absence needs to reflect this. We need an end to the finger wagging approach and need to give parents more support.
We found life is getting harder for a large number of parents with a third of parents arguing with their children over getting to school almost every day, parents are really trying but for many it a regular struggle. We need support for parents where this is becoming a serious problem.
What really comes out of our survey is that children are switching off school and this is leading to them staying at home, alongside unmet special needs help, not enjoying school come out as the biggest reason parents gave for children refusing to go to school.
Parents also agree with the Secretary of State for education, that fines for regular non-attendance have their place. We need to make sure these fines are used carefully but about half of parents see fines as part of the solution to making sure children get to school every day.”
The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 1,000 parents in the UK with school age children aged 4-16 (nationally representative of parents). The data was collected between 10.02.2025 – 12.02.2025.
Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles. Censuswide is also a member of the British Polling Council.
Parentkind is one of the UK’s largest federated charities, working with more than 23,500 Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), schools and Parent Councils to support parents. Our network of 13,400 PTAs raises more than £130 million a year for schools. Parentkind is the voice of parents in education through regular parents polling and the National Parent Survey, the UK’s largest annual parent poll.
