School absence research identifies ‘Friday effect’
Economics researchers from the University of Bath have found significantly lower school attendance rates on Fridays across England, quantifying the so-called ‘Friday effect’.
The study - The ‘Friday effect’: School attendance over the week - published in the British Education Research Journal, used daily level attendance data at local authority level collected by the Department for Education (DfE) from the beginning of the 2022/23 academic year. The researchers found absence rates on Fridays were 17 per cent higher compared to the rest of the week in primary schools, and 22 per cent higher compared to the rest of the week in secondary schools. Overall, across all schools in England, absence rates are 20 per cent (or 1.5 percentage points) higher on Fridays compared to the rest of the week. They also found that this ‘Friday effect’ was more pronounced in weeks leading up to bank holidays or half term breaks – for example attendance data showed spikes on absence ahead of the bank holidays to mark both the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III. Meanwhile absence rates on Fridays before half term holidays were more than double those on other weeks in the 2022/23 academic year. The ‘Friday effect’ was also greater in areas with more deprivation.
Looking back at past data, the ‘Friday effect’ seems to predate the coronavirus pandemic, but has worsened in its aftermath. A previous study from 2023 found that in secondary schools Friday absences were 0.7 percentage points lower relative to the weekly average in the 2013/14 academic year, but 0.9 percentage points higher than the weekly average by 2018/19. By 2022/23 the difference had increased again, with Friday absences 1.4 percentage points higher.
In terms of what could be driving this pattern, the researchers say they found ‘no evidence’ to suggest working from home was driving higher Friday absences. They also ruled out the effect of recent strikes, and acknowledged that not being able to fully explain why the ‘Friday effect’ occurs is a limitation of the paper. Dr Jonathan James, one of the studies’ co-authors, commented: ‘There might be a cultural aspect to this—perhaps there's less stigma about taking Fridays off now. With the cost of living crisis, people may be more understanding of the financial pressures families face, such as the high cost of holidays. However, we do not yet have concrete evidence to fully support this hypothesis.’ With regard to the higher absences before half terms and bank holidays, he suggested that families ‘extending their holidays or trying to avoid holiday traffic’ could be behind this. Highlighting that the data they used was at the local authority level, and that this aggregation may therefore mask significant school-level reasons for absence, the reports authors noted that new guidance making it mandatory for all schools to provide daily absence data to the DfE may allow future research to examine these factors.
Full report: https://tinyurl.com/y37979w7