Teachers’ Attributions, Efficacy and Management of School Refusal: Exploring the Effects of Awareness and Strategies Training

The anxiety-based refusal to attend school is an often under-acknowledged and over-looked school attendance issue. Research on the impact of school non-attendance suggests that there are negative consequences on educational outcomes, mental health as well as social and family development.

This study sought to systematically review interventions that succeed in improving outcomes for children who school-refuse by getting them back into full-time education.

Similarities were drawn between the 11 intervention studies identified as they all contained aspects of a behavioural and/or cognitive-behavioural approach. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy appeared the most promising line of intervention with the strongest quality of evidence.

The importance of interventions that consider the systemic factors that could be contributing to the child's school refusal, including the role of teachers, was highlighted in the review.

The empirical paper therefore sought to explore the attributions that teachers made towards children who have an anxiety-based school refusal as well as their efficacy and management strategies to support this largely invisible group of students.

In addition, the impact of In Service and Education Training (INSET) on supporting children with attendance difficulties was explored to investigate the impact of a systemic intervention on teacher's attributions, efficacy and management strategies of school refusal.

The Leeds Attributional Coding System identified teacher's causal attributions and inductive thematic analysis identified themes regarding strategies teachers employed to support children who school refused.

Teacher efficacy was measured using the Teacher Efficacy Scale and scores were correlated with teacher attributions.

The Most Significant Change technique captured teachers reported change in their thinking and strategies following the INSET.

The results have implications for the practice of EPs and for promoting the role of teachers in supporting attendance.