Skip to content

Not wholly I think

School absences “significantly contribute” to children’s mental ill health, according to research backed by the Office for National Statistics that shows the risks increase the longer a child is absent.

“Our research shows that the more times a child is absent from school, the greater the probability that they will experience mental ill health,” the authors, from Loughborough University and the ONS, concluded.

A correlation between the two, obviously. But causality?

The study, involving more than 1 million school-age children in England, found the relationship between absence and mental health was “a two-way street”, with lengthy absences increasing the likelihood of later hospital treatment. It also found children with existing mental health problems took more time off school.

Quite so, quite so.

After all, the idea that attendance at a British school is a necessary component of child mental health is a bit odd, no?

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

9 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ottokring
Ottokring
2 months ago

Socialisation, innit ?

Mixing with other kids allows one to develop friendships, seeing how other people react, behave etc.

Kids who play truant all day will either be sitting at home playing GTA or out nicking stuff or sniffing EvoStik or any number of anti social activities.

My attitude to school was based on watching Porridge : keep your nose clean, don’t annoy the screws and win those small victories.

M
M
2 months ago
Reply to  Ottokring

Whether it’s social or anti-social rather depends on whether they’re doing their glue-sniffing alone or in company with other glue-sniffers, doesn’t it?

Addolff
Addolff
2 months ago

“Our research shows that the more times a child is present at school, the greater the probability that they will experience mental ill health,” the authors, from Loughborough University and the ONS, concluded. FTFY

JuliaM
2 months ago

’After all, the idea that attendance at a British school is a necessary component of child mental health is a bit odd, no?’

If you think the purpose of that attendance is to impart knowledge rather than to ensure the subjects believe what the state wants them to believe, yes!

But is that its true purpose?

jgh
jgh
2 months ago
Reply to  JuliaM

Babysitting?

jgh
jgh
2 months ago

Being at school allowed me to *avoid* being forced to socialise with people I had absolutely no affinity for, by allowing me to spend as much times as I could in the computer room coding.

Esteban
Esteban
2 months ago

Also, people in hospital show more health problems than those not…

Baron Jackfield
Baron Jackfield
2 months ago

That’s logic from the “Winston Churchill is dead… X is dead, therefore he must be Winston Churchill”..

Gamecock
Gamecock
2 months ago

Assign a Bobby to every child, to make sure they get to school. Net Zero truancy.

It will solve your unemployment problems, too.

Can you help support The Blog? If you can spare a few pounds you can donate to our fundraising campaign below. All donations are greatly appreciated and go towards our server, security and software costs. 25,000 people per day read our sites and every penny goes towards our fight against for independent journalism. We don't take a wage and do what we do because we enjoy it and hope our readers enjoy it too.
9
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x