Discrimination at school?

17 posts
GetmeOutofHere
Posts: 10
Joined: Sep 2010
Options:
Share this post on:

Re: Discrimination at school?

Postby GetmeOutofHere » Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:54 pm

Under the Department of Education Statutory guidelines (2015) - page 23 it has this little gem:

Although school staff should use their discretion and judge each case on its merits with reference to the child’s individual healthcare plan, it is not generally acceptable practice to:
  • penalise children for their attendance record if their absences are related to their medical condition, e.g. hospital appointments;
We had experience of our son being discriminated at attendance awards despite a medical condition so this helped change the school's process! Might also be worth reading the school's policy on children with medical conditions - I bet there is something in there too!
Last edited by GetmeOutofHere on Thu Sep 26, 2019 11:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
Post Reply
caity
Posts: 18
Joined: Apr 2012
Options:
Share this post on:

Re: Discrimination at school?

Postby caity » Thu Sep 26, 2019 10:37 am

I support schools who are doing all they can to achieve full attendance (I understand that research shows it makes a positive difference to the individual and the class) -
but I also completely agree with you that these sort of attendance awards discriminate against children who have medical conditions which mean they have to be off school.

To try to square this circle I’ve suggested to our school that they replace “attendance awards” with “commitment awards”. Of course it’s easier simply to count absences on a register, but teachers know their classes well and could take attendance as one factor but easily add their judgement to recognise children who have some absences through no fault of their own (or their parents) but a great attitude to learning
and catching up if necessary. After all, being sat in your seat but zoning out because you’re not well enough to focus isn’t actually learning ... in the workplace we know this as ‘presenteeism’ and it’s a recognised drag on productivity. So far the school hasn’t listened but I’ll keep trying to make the case for a more rounded approach to commitment.
Post Reply

Start a conversation
To create a new post and start a new conversation, please click on the button.