Understanding each child’s barriers can determine the support they need

What is school avoidance?

Getting children through the school gates is a challenge many teachers and parents face as a new term begins. But whatever you do, don’t call it school refusal. So say clinicians, teachers and carers helping young people who feel they can’t attend school. Defined this way, it becomes an act of defiance, and the solution centres around how to stop a child, rather than trying to discover why.

Instead, professionals refer to emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA) or anxiety-related absence – which can have complex causes, says Alice Moore, a teacher, author and expert in child mental health. Alice works at a primary school in England (for children aged 4-11) where mental health provision is described as ‘exemplary’ by the national school inspectors. She took on her current role as senior mental health lead in 2019, months before the pandemic struck, and since then she’s had her hands full.

Read the story here

https://boldscience.org/how-to-help-children-who-avoid-school/