TEACHERS in Wales today welcomed a government initiative to boost attendance in schools following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Welsh Education Minister Jeremy Miles called for a national effort to increase school attendance at the launch of a consultation to support the one in five children who regularly miss school.

National Education Union Cymru welcomed the consultation, saying it would respond – and expressed concern over the number of pupils regularly missing school since the pandemic.

According to the union only 85 per cent of year 11 pupils attended school prior to the latest GCSE exams.

“Schools want to ensure that every pupil achieves their full potential and teachers and support staff work very hard to ensure they get the opportunity to do so,” a spokesman said.

“However, teacher and support staff workloads are already high, therefore, in line with the pay agreement, we would like a workload impact assessment to be undertaken immediately to ensure that everything can be done to relieve the pressure on education professionals.”

“Attendance figures have not recovered since the pandemic in a way we would have hoped,” Mr Miles said.

“Improving school attendance must be seen as a national priority and I would urge families, schools and relevant parties to have their say to help shape this important piece of guidance.”

The consultation also seeks views on the current definition of persistent absence, currently defined as more than 20 per cent of available school sessions in a given year.

Overall attendance figures have dropped since the pandemic with the latest data showing absence hitting 10.5 per cent, with persistent absence of pupils eligible for free school meals rising from 8.4 per cent of pupils in 2018/19 to 19 per cent of pupils in 2022/23.