EBSA, and the enormous impact it has on children and young people, their families, school staff and therefore on wider society, is considered by some to be the greatest challenge faced in education right now. It is shocking that an estimated 91,000-182,000 school-age children are affected and missing school each day as a result. And that’s a conservative estimate (1).
EBSA is an umbrella term for children and young people who are having persistent difficulty in going to school that often begins during the latter stages of primary school or the first two years of secondary school, with children suffering physical symptoms such as nausea and headaches as well as mental distress and anxiety. Causes are extremely varied, but generally focus around anxiety caused by an unmet need, or by the increased demands of secondary school such as more independence, a less nurturing environment, or needing to adjust to multiple teaching styles and locations. These can lead to bullying or friendship problems and hence more anxiety.
It is extremely distressing for parents to see their previously bubbly and happy child fade, to witness their daily struggle to get through the school gates, to try to manage the physical symptoms and sometimes attendant aggression, all of which can lead them to feel that EBSA and its underlying causes are a commentary on their parenting. That they are being judged by schools and found wanting.
But we know that almost every child, including those struggling with EBSA, wants to be in school. And that they sometimes don’t have the language to understand or express what is causing the problems, so we must help them, together. Together, we can support children and young people to understand their emotions and help them attend school. Parents and schools must work properly together, trusting each other and remaining positive through the inevitable setbacks. Because children need to feel they have a veritable ‘army’ alongside them, supporting them and helping them understand, express and overcome EBSA.
We need to be honest however that this ‘army’ is different than it used to be. It’s well known that the number of children suffering with poor mental health is growing rapidly, that the complexity of their need is growing, and that the support services families rely on have had to raise the thresholds at which they give help because their budgets have declined in real terms. All of which means the support available to families is weaker than it should be, leaving schools to try their best to ill the gap without the external experts to work with.
In ALET, our mission is to Transform Lives Through Learning, and we believe strongly that children need to be in class, with their peers, learning the academic and social skills and knowledge they need for the real world. This means we view EBSA as a journey not a diagnosis, that we will put our energy, empathy and kindness into building strong relationships with our students and their families, but that we will not shy away from continuing to encourage our students to take their next small step, and then the next, towards their goals. We know through research and experience that children recover far quicker when they’re in school, so this must always be our focus.
Our Learning Philosophy guides how we approach learning in every situation, so our approach to helping families struggling with EBSA is:
Brain: a well-planned, ambitious curriculum that encourages teachers to do what they do best; deliver high quality, engaging and where possible fun lessons that students want to attend. When they can’t attend, we do our best to provide catch up sessions or pre-teaching work, a bespoke environment for struggling students in each school, and mental health support ranging from our trained pastoral and attendance teams, to even, in one of our schools, having a MIND worker on site. These teams do their very best to help students understand and express the causes of the issues, and work with families to resolve them.
Emotion: we ensure we have the right team in place in each school to help, with the kindness, understanding and empathy families need. We work tirelessly to build connections and relationships with families and students to help everyone feel the army is behind them.
Motivation: all of us, teachers, students and families, are already highly motivated to succeed. We all want our children in school, happy, with their peers and learning what they need to be the best they can be. But we ensure that why we are proposing something is clear to everyone.
As a Trust, we are unapologetically on the side of our students. We are advocating for better support services, and training our staff more deeply to help them support families. We are reviewing our curriculum to make sure it is as attractive as possible for students, and working innovatively with the resources we have.
But we need to work firmly hand in hand with families. Together, we need to help children really feel that ‘army’ alongside them, because EBSA is complicated, serious and can escalate quickly. But it doesn’t have to be forever. Let’s use the new academic year to transform children’s school lives.
Further reading and information sources:
Young Minds’ resources:
o https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/parents-a-z-mental-health-guide/school-anxiety-and-refusal/
o https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/blog/my-daughter-couldn-t-go-to-school-what-i-wish-i-had-known/
• BBC Bitesize article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdkn3qt#zt7cdnb
• School Behaviour Secret’s podcast with Jerricah Holder, an educational psychologist
https://beaconschoolsupport.co.uk/podcast/essentials-understanding-children-with-emotionally-based-school-avoidance-ebsa
• Somerset Council’s Support Services for Education EBSA guidance: https://www.supportservicesforeducation.co.uk/Page/19956
1. Wakeield Council’s Education Psychology Service EBSA toolkit:
https://www.tradedservices.wakeield.gov.uk/Pages/Download/17f505ab-897b-4712-9cdc-e5673709855e/PageSectionDocuments
