School refusal behaviour :how can we support pupils back to school?

Abstract

The systematic review and empirical research presented in this thesis, as part of the required work for the Doctorate in Applied Educational Psychology, investigates school refusal behaviour, or, more specifically, the non-attendance component of school refusal behaviour. The systematic review examines the effectiveness of various interventions on improving attendance patterns, whereas the empirical research focuses on the experiences of looked after children who exhibit school refusal behaviour. The pieces are linked through the focus of how to support the development of improved attendance patterns of school refusers. The systematic review explores what type of psycho-social interventions are efficacious in supporting pupils exhibiting school refusal behaviour back to school. Cognitive behavioural therapy interventions, informed by the function of school refusal, were found to be marginally more effective than other designs. Interventions that were delivered to both young people and their parents/school were more effective than interventions solely targeting individuals. Results were inconclusive regarding the most effective interventions over time. The empirical study reports the findings of a small-scale qualitative study that explored the accounts of looked after children who had exhibited school refusal behaviour. Grounded theory was used to analyse the transcripts of semi-structured interviews with four Looked After young people in the North East of England. The emergent theory tells us that when a Looked After young person is faced with instability during adolescence they are at risk of school attendance difficulties. The factors that contributed to continued attendance difficulties related to unresolved precipitating factors, school, people who mattered to the individual and the individual being ready for change.