02/03/2026
Very interesting summary of a report on School Absence
THE LONG-TERM OUTCOMES OF SCHOOL ABSENCE
ERSU Report Feb 2026 (Report Summary)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY International research has pointed to the longer-term impact of school absence on outcomes in early adulthood. This study uses Growing Up in Ireland data to document the consequences of absence in primary and post-primary education for a range of outcomes in (early) adulthood, including educational qualifications, labour market position, and health and wellbeing. The main research questions addressed in the study are:
1. What is the relationship between school absence and outcomes in early adulthood, including Leaving Certificate attainment, post-school qualifications, employment status and quality, income, life satisfaction, and mental health?
2. Does the impact of school absenteeism on future outcomes vary depending on when the absences occur (i.e. primary or post-primary education)?
3. Does school-level absence have an effect over and above individual absenteeism?
4. Do the relationships between school absenteeism and early adulthood outcomes vary based on factors such as socio-economic status, gender, migrant background, and disability? Attendance has become all the more important as a policy concern given the increase in school absence since the pandemic.
EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES The findings show a significant relationship between school absence and educational outcomes in Ireland. Even short spells of absence at age 13 are linked to lower Leaving Certificate grades.
There is a very large performance gap related to chronic absence, that is, missing 20 or more days a year, a gap of 82 points even controlling for a range of individual and background factors that affect performance. This gap is evident across all social groups, with no evidence that more advantaged families can successfully buffer the negative effects of absenteeism for their children. Over and above the effects of individual patterns of absence, young people who attend a school with a higher prevalence of chronic absence achieve lower Leaving Certificate points. Even those who themselves have good attendance have poorer outcomes if school-level absence is higher.
The Executive summary | xi grade penalty for attending a high-absence school does not vary by socio-economic background but is found to be greater for migrant-origin students, perhaps because they are more reliant on school-based resources given that their parents may be less familiar with the Irish education system.
Young people with prolonged absence from school are also more negative about the benefits of their schooling to their broader social and personal development. Longer school absence is significantly related to the chances of going on to higher education and of achieving a degree, a pattern that is explained by differences in Leaving Certificate grades.
LABOUR MARKET OUTCOMES Although educational attainment and employment outcomes are strongly linked in Ireland, the relationship between school absence and labour market outcomes is modest.
No differences in labour market status at age 25 are found by absence level but young adults with longer absences are more likely to have spent time unemployed or out of the labour market on home duties. Similarly, there are only modest effects on employment quality, with some tendency for those with prolonged absence to be less likely to be in a professional or managerial job and to have lower employment income. Part of this difference is related to the more disadvantaged profile of those with prolonged absence.
HEALTH, WELLBEING AND SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS Prolonged absence is found to impact on several important dimensions of wellbeing and social connectedness, though the size of the effects varies across outcomes.
Even taking account of early socio-emotional difficulties, chronic absence at ages 9 and 13 is predictive of depressive symptoms and higher stress levels at both 20 and 25 years.
Life satisfaction at 20 and 25 years of age is much lower among those who were persistently absent at age 13, a difference that is larger than that by gender or disability.
Self-reported physical health at 20 and 25 years is found to decline with increasing absence at age 13, even allowing for the effect of earlier health status, disability and social background. The findings show fewer close ties with others, social relatedness, among those who were chronically absent. Much lower levels of general trust in others are evident even among those with moderate levels of absence, four to six days. The gap in trust between those with no absence and those with 11 or more days is sizeable, larger than the gap by parental education, suggesting some degree of social alienation among this group of adults. However, this does not translate into differences in political engagement. xii | The long-term outcomes of school absence
IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY School absence emerges as an important driver of later inequality, with very significant negative consequences for educational attainment, health, wellbeing and social belonging. The findings highlight the urgency of addressing school absence, especially given the higher levels apparent since the pandemic. The patterns found have implications for policy as well as practice at the school level, pointing to the importance of clear messaging to parents about the value of attendance for their own and other people’s children, the need for a range of tiered supports tailored to address specific drivers of absence, school supports to address learning loss and foster social integration among students who have been absent, and broader supports for families and communities to help address the socio-economic factors shaping non-attendance.
