They were sick, at a medical appointment, their parents gave them the day off. They were too tired, on vacation, or admitted to skipping.
When students were asked why they missed school over a two-week period, those were their top reasons — with sickness accounting for about half, followed by an appointment for almost one in five. Some 15 per cent cited their parents’ OK to be away.
As the government looks to curb soaring absenteeism in Ontario schools by making attendance and participation worth 10 or 15 per cent of a teen’s final mark, experts say more needs to be done to address a problem that is plaguing countries everywhere post-pandemic.
Jurisdictions in Canada and the U.S. have experimented with public education campaigns, creating attendance competitions between classes with fun rewards, training teachers and secretaries, and sending in supports when needed. Pathways to Education Canada, a non-profit tutoring and support organization for vulnerable students, also tracks absenteeism and says something as simple as providing a transit pass can make a difference.
“Every school division in the world will tell you that since the pandemic, absenteeism has been an issue,” said Tracy Vaillancourt, an education professor at the University of Ottawa and an expert on the topic.
In Ontario, provincial figures show just 40 per cent of high school students met attendance standards last year — being in class at least 90 per cent of the time — down nearly 20 percentage points from pre-pandemic levels. Missing more than 10 per cent of classes, or roughly 19 absences a year, is considered chronic absenteeism.
Why aren’t students attending class?
The data on why students here report missing class is taken from school climate surveys filled out by kids from grades 4 to 12 across the province — surveys the government says will no longer be mandatory. Vaillancourt said knowing the reasons can help pinpoint solutions.
Take the “too tired” group of teens: Their absenteeism rate doubles in high school “if they were on their screen before they went to bed,” Vaillancourt said.
“When we think about policies, or even outreach, this is something that parents can easily address — take your kids off their phone an hour before they go to bed, and maybe we’ll see them attending more.”
With vacation also a significant factor, she noted that in Scandinavian countries, “you’re not allowed to go on vacation during school time.” (And for parents all too willing to pull their kids out for a day or two to attend a sports tournament, “the priority should be attending school,” said Vaillancourt, herself a high-performance coach of a provincial U17 soccer team.)
Parents may mean well in allowing a day off, but poor attendance “goes hand in hand with lower academic achievement, which then puts more pressure on kids in terms of mental health,” she said. “We really need to be sending our kids to school, even when they are a little uncomfortable.”
The province also needs to take a deep look at the complex underlying issues, which include “mental health challenges, family responsibilities and transportation barriers,” said Kathleen Woodcock, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association.
Without addressing these, the policy may not lead to lasting improvements and could disproportionately affect students already facing significant challenges, said Woodcock, who is urging the government to pair grading changes with increased supports and efforts to re-engage students.
Owen Charters, president and CEO of Pathways, says attendance at its after-school tutoring sessions is monitored, along with kids’ attendance at school, “so if they’re starting to drop out of classes or not attending, we follow up and figure out what the barriers are, and encourage them to be back in class.”
Sometimes kids just need a transit pass or a decent meal “so they’re not sitting in class hungry … there’s a whole layer of supports” including access to a computer or Wi-Fi. Then they need a caring adult who is paying attention, following up on absences, helping with any struggles and accessing supports, he added.
With school boards under greater strain due to staffing cuts, students are increasingly navigating a complex system to find needed help, he said.
“I’m glad to see the government is paying attending to absenteeism rates,” Charters added. “It’s not bad that they’ve created an incentive program by saying ‘it’s going to be part of your marks’ … but it has to come with supports.”
What parents and students say about absenteeism
Toronto mother Katrina Matheson believes some students simply don’t see enough value in being at school. She was raised with the notion that kids shouldn’t miss school if they can help it, but having volunteered in her children’s classes, she can see how learning can feel dull and uninspiring, saying even she has struggled with whether to send them every day.
“When being in class doesn’t feel valuable, either because kids are bored at the slow pace or because they’re so lost they feel beyond help, then everyone begins to feel blasé about attendance,” she said.
Jennifer Pinder, a special education elementary teacher in Waterloo, believes unmet student needs are driving absenteeism, particularly when early intervention and services are lacking. When needs aren’t met in early grades, she says children create “false narratives” about themselves and think they are poor learners, fuelling disengagement.
Grade 12 Toronto student Ahnaaf Hassan said classrooms thin out after second semester midterms, once colleges and universities have received the marks that matter most for admission. Students start to “chill out a little bit,” and look ahead to prom, end-of-year celebrations and “transitioning into summer.”
That may explain why Grade 12 students had the lowest attendance in 2024-25, with just 33 per cent attending at least 90 per cent of the time, down from 49 per cent in 2017-18. But Hassan believes any mandate to try to “force participation” could backfire and make some teens resent school.
Education Minister Paul Calandra has said exemptions to the attendance rules will be made for health reasons, special needs students as well as weather and transportation issues, especially in northern and rural areas — and that kids won’t be penalized if attending sports tournaments.
Parent leaders from 13 Ontario school boards recently met to discuss the change, warning it will hurt students already facing barriers. They are calling on the province to fund more vice-principals, incentivize principals and teachers in schools with strong attendance rates, and improve school transportation.
Strategies that boards are trying
In recent years, some Ontario boards have launched attendance campaigns. Algoma District School Board introduced its campaign along with a “re-engagement team,” a multi-disciplinary group of staff who work with schools, families and community partners to help chronically absent students return to class. The board says truancy charges are rare and used only as a last resort when all efforts have failed to get a student back in school.
The District School Board Ontario North East has already established attendance goals, peer mentoring and direct outreach to families, including mailing postcards home to each student who doesn’t have regular attendance.
At Rainy River District School Board, based in Fort Frances, teachers see alerts when students are repeatedly absent or attendance is declining, staff are trained to speak with families in positive, non-punitive ways, and even school secretaries — the first point of contact with families when a kid is away — receive training from an attendance counsellor.
Bluewater District School Board focuses on helping kids understand why attendance matters — even partnering with the local health authority to get this message across — and says families are being notified sooner about issues and more quickly connected to mental health supports.
According to Attendance Works, a U.S. non-profit initiative to reduce chronic absences, recognizing good or improved attendance with incentives such as assemblies, free homework passes or hallway dance parties are powerful motivators for kids. One California elementary school gives the class with the best attendance extra recess time once a week, while a Chicago high school gives teens with good attendance special access to its VIP lounge.
But for one Toronto high school guidance counsellor, who was not authorized to speak publicly, having educators build meaningful relationships with students and regularly check in is “one of the strongest predictors of improved attendance, especially for students at risk.”
“You’d be amazed at how many times these students will go, ‘I don’t want to disappoint so-and-so because they’re expecting me’” in school, the counsellor said. “That turns into a sense of belonging.”
