Persistent absence rarely has one cause, and improving attendance usually involves more than sharper monitoring or a new reward scheme. This selection of books for teachers about whole-school attendance improvement examines whole-school systems, attendance data, family and community work, school refusal, mental health, behaviour, reintegration and the everyday conditions that make school worth attending. They are aimed chiefly at attendance leads, pastoral and inclusion staff, teachers and school leaders, with several titles offering a UK policy context and others requiring translation from US practice. For schools buying for a team, pair a strategic handbook with a specialist text. For prices and ordering, click on the book cover.
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Books on Whole-School Attendance Improvement – our recommendations
Understanding School Refusal by Karen J. Grandison, Louise De-Hayes and M. S. Thambirajah
School refusal is treated here as a complex pattern of non-attendance rather than simple defiance. Drawing on educational, clinical and social-care perspectives, the book looks at anxiety and panic, parental support, assessment, home tuition, pupil referral units and planning a return to school. Its case material and practical forms make it particularly useful to attendance leads, pastoral staff, educational psychologists and SENCOs working with a small but high-need group. Published in 2007, it predates current English attendance guidance, so the statutory and safeguarding framework must be checked separately.
Improving School Attendance by Susan Hallam
Susan Hallam’s UK study is a useful historical foundation for understanding school attendance as a school, family and policy issue. It considers patterns of absence, reasons pupils miss school and ways schools and local authorities have tried to respond. Readers interested in the development of attendance thinking will find it more valuable than someone seeking a current action plan. The book is old, and its terminology, data and policy references are no longer current. Use it to frame questions, then test its assumptions against today’s DfE guidance and attendance data.
Improving School Attendance edited by Eric Blyth and Judith Milner
This edited collection examines attendance at several levels, from individual pupils to schools and local education authorities. Chapters consider the causes of non-attendance, attendance policy, data, intervention and preventive work, including approaches in primary settings. It can help trust, local-authority and school leaders see how attendance sits within a wider system rather than as a single pastoral casework problem. Published in 1999, it is a historical research and policy volume rather than a current implementation manual, and some terminology and institutional arrangements need translating for today’s academy and local-authority landscape.
Managing School Attendance: Successful intervention strategies for reducing truancy by Ken Reid
Ken Reid brings together causes of non-attendance, research on interventions, school-change strategies, monitoring, case studies and home-school work. The book moves between national policy, local-authority practice, whole-school systems and individual pupil support, which makes it one of the more directly relevant choices for a senior attendance lead or headteacher. Its practical emphasis is useful when a school needs to connect data with action, but the policy context is not the current English framework. Read it alongside DfE statutory guidance, particularly on support-first practice, safeguarding and legal intervention.
An Essential Guide to Improving Attendance in your School: Practical resources for all school managers by Ken Reid
This is the most resource-led of Reid’s school-management titles. It focuses on the responsibilities of school managers, attendance policy, monitoring, planning and practical tools that can be adapted for staff discussion or review. It suits a headteacher, deputy, attendance lead or trust improvement colleague who wants a structured starting point rather than a long academic treatment. Because it was published in 2014, examples and references reflect an earlier policy environment. Treat its templates as prompts to adapt, not as ready-made substitutes for current DfE requirements or local-authority procedures.
Managing and Improving School Attendance and Behaviour: New Approaches and Initiatives edited by Ken Reid
This edited Routledge collection widens the lens beyond attendance figures. Contributions cover truancy and wellbeing, disaffection, pupil absenteeism, educational psychology, emotional barriers, behaviour management, exclusion and reintegration, with material from several countries including the UK. It is most useful for staff trying to connect attendance with school climate, inclusion and behaviour rather than running a stand-alone attendance campaign. The chapters are uneven in topic and national context, and it is a research collection rather than a step-by-step school manual. Select chapters to match your improvement question.
Truancy and Schools by Ken Reid
Reid examines truancy through social, educational and policy perspectives, asking why pupils disengage and how schools and wider services respond. The book is relevant to pastoral leaders, attendance officers, local-authority colleagues and researchers who need a broader account of non-attendance than a register-monitoring guide can provide. It discusses consequences, interventions and the relationship between school and community responses. Published in a 2017 Routledge edition but rooted in earlier debates, it should not be used as a guide to current English attendance law or terminology without checking updated official sources.
Tackling Truancy in Schools: A Practical Manual for Primary and Secondary Schools by Ken Reid
This practical manual is aimed at primary and secondary schools and concentrates on prevention, identification and intervention. It includes activities and planning ideas intended to help staff examine truancy, communicate with pupils and families, and organise a coherent school response. The direct style may suit an attendance lead or pastoral team building a training session, while the examples can prompt useful discussion about language and assumptions. It was first published around 2000, so its legal, policy and data context is dated. Use it for questions and activities, not as a current compliance guide.
Truancy: Short and Long-term Solutions by Ken Reid
Ken Reid presents truancy and non-attendance as problems with both immediate and longer-term consequences, then considers practical responses. The book is useful for readers who want to compare preventive work, school-based intervention, family engagement and wider policy solutions, rather than focus only on individual sanctions. It gives an accessible route into the older UK attendance literature and can support professional discussion about how schools define and respond to absence. Its 2002 perspective predates current persistent and severe absence definitions, so every policy or legal point needs updating.
Improving Behaviour and Attendance at School by Susan Hallam and Lynne Rogers
Hallam and Rogers explore the relationship between behaviour, disaffection, learning and attendance, with attention to school-level analysis and possible strategies. That combination makes the title useful where absence is entangled with classroom experience, exclusions, relationships or a pupil’s sense of connection to school. It is a UK education text suited to leaders, pastoral staff and behaviour teams who want to think across departmental boundaries. Published in 2008, it offers context and conceptual questions rather than a current attendance programme, and its recommendations should be read against newer evidence and statutory guidance.
Managing Truancy in Schools by David Collins
David Collins approaches truancy as a management and leadership issue, considering causes, school responses, policy and the practical organisation of attendance work. It may help school leaders and education welfare colleagues think about how responsibilities, routines and communication fit together, especially when a school is reviewing its wider approach. This is an older UK title, so readers should expect historical terminology and examples rather than current guidance on persistent absence, safeguarding or penalty notices. Its value now is as a concise reminder that attendance improvement depends on systems and relationships, not just follow-up calls.
School Leader’s Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges by Jessica Sprick and Randy Sprick
Sprick and Sprick set out a multi-tiered approach for school and district teams, moving from universal attendance culture and routines to targeted and intensive support. The book includes background explanations, planning tools and strategies for identifying barriers and responding with increasing levels of intervention. It is one of the clearest choices here for a senior leadership team wanting a framework to discuss roles, data and escalation. It is written for the United States, however, so references to districts, state rules, chronic absence and legal processes must be translated carefully for UK schools.
Teacher’s Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges by Jessica Sprick and Tricia Berg
Where the school-leader title focuses on systems, this companion turns to classroom practice. Sprick and Berg discuss attendance as part of everyday relationships, classroom culture, family communication and teacher routines, with practical strategies for noticing concerns and supporting pupils before absence becomes entrenched. It is a manageable professional-reading choice for tutors, class teachers, mentors and pastoral staff who need a role they can act on immediately. The examples come from US schools and should not be treated as a replacement for a UK attendance policy, safeguarding process or SEND-informed plan.
Helping School Refusing Children and Their Parents: A Guide for School-Based Professionals by Christopher A. Kearney
Kearney’s second edition is a specialist guide to recognising, assessing and addressing school refusal for school-based professionals and related services. It distinguishes different functions of refusal and considers anxiety, family factors, consultation, graduated return and collaboration around the child. This is a useful text for attendance leads, SENCOs, pastoral teams and educational psychologists when absence has become clinically or emotionally complex. It is not a whole-school attendance strategy, and the US edition reflects American professional and service structures. Use it for case formulation and partnership work, with UK procedures checked separately.
When Children Refuse School: Therapist Guide by Christopher A. Kearney and Anne Marie Albano
Written for therapists, this manual presents a cognitive-behavioural approach to assessing school refusal and tailoring intervention to the young person’s needs. It covers functional assessment, treatment planning and techniques that may inform conversations between schools, families and clinical services. The book belongs on a specialist shelf rather than in every teacher’s staffroom, but it can be valuable to a pastoral lead or educational psychologist supporting a coordinated plan. It is a clinical resource, not a school attendance policy, and should be used within appropriate professional competence and referral arrangements.
Managing School Absenteeism at Multiple Tiers: An Evidence-Based and Practical Guide for Professionals by Christopher A. Kearney
Kearney organises school absenteeism into a tiered prevention and intervention model, linking universal school practice with targeted and intensive responses. The book is particularly relevant to attendance teams, school psychologists, counsellors and leaders who need to connect screening, functional assessment, consultation and case management. Its strongest distinction from a general attendance handbook is the attempt to match response intensity to need, rather than treating every absence alike. The framework is US-oriented and partly clinical, so UK readers will need to map its tiers onto local inclusion, health, safeguarding and attendance systems.
Helping Families of Youth with School Attendance Problems: A Practical Guide for Mental Health and School-Based Professionals by Christopher A. Kearney
This practical guide focuses on collaboration with families when a young person’s attendance problems are persistent, complex or connected to wider needs. Kearney covers assessment, consultation, intervention planning and ways school-based and mental-health professionals can work with parents and carers. It is most useful for attendance leads, pastoral managers, family-support workers and clinicians handling cases that do not respond to generic messaging. The book comes from a US professional context and uses its own service language, so it should complement, not replace, UK guidance on safeguarding, SEND, reasonable adjustments and legal duties.
Mental Health and Attendance at School edited by Katie Finning, Tamsin Ford and Darren A. Moore
Edited by three UK researchers, this multidisciplinary volume examines how mental health and school attendance interact. Chapters bring together epidemiology, mental-health conditions, neurodevelopment, school experiences, intervention and the perspectives of education and health professionals. It is a strong choice for SENCOs, pastoral leaders, designated mental-health leads and senior teams who need to understand why attendance data cannot be interpreted in isolation. The academic tone is more substantial than a quick practice handbook, and the book informs professional judgement rather than prescribing one universal intervention.
Absent from School: Understanding and Addressing Student Absenteeism edited by Michael A. Gottfried and Ethan L. Hutt
This edited research volume examines student absenteeism through policy, economics, sociology, psychology and education research. It explores why absence matters, how it is measured, which groups are affected and what schools and systems can learn from evidence. The chapters are useful for trust leaders, governors, researchers and staff planning a whole-school review who want to challenge simple explanations of non-attendance. It is a US-focused collection, so definitions, statistics and policy examples are not interchangeable with England. Use it for analysis and questions, then anchor decisions in current UK data and guidance.
Supporting Students with School Attendance Challenges: A Collaborative Guide for Educators, Families and Therapists by Monica L. Mandell
Monica L. Mandell takes a collaborative, attachment-informed approach to students whose attendance difficulties may be connected to anxiety, disconnection, learning needs or strained relationships with school. The book is aimed at educators, families and therapists and emphasises listening, joined-up planning and individualised support rather than a single attendance fix. Its short format makes it accessible to pastoral and inclusion teams, although it is not a substitute for a whole-school strategy. Published by Routledge in 2026, it is a current international title, but UK readers still need to apply local attendance and safeguarding requirements.
Books on Whole-School Attendance Improvement Resources
- Working together to improve school attendance – The current statutory framework for schools, trusts, governing bodies and local authorities in England, including support, registers and legal intervention.
- RISE attendance improvement – DfE links to attendance toolkits, family communication, data guidance, mental-health support and regional help.
- Supporting school attendance – Evidence-informed themes and a reflection tool for school leaders and attendance teams.
- Attendance toolkit for schools – Practical approaches, templates and case studies organised around data, culture, relationships, transition and other whole-school areas.
- Mental health issues affecting a pupil’s attendance – Responsibilities and examples of effective practice when social, emotional or mental-health needs affect attendance.
- Securing good attendance and tackling persistent absence – Ofsted’s research summary of common features in schools that improve attendance and reduce persistent absence.
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