Mijke Withagen works as a policy advisor at the Education Law and Support Department of the Municipality of Rotterdam, formerly known as the Compulsory Education Department. She says: ‘In Generation R, my colleagues from the Youth department research the growth and health of children in the Maasstad. With the results of the study, they are developing strategies to better support pregnant women, children and young people. They look at all kinds of factors that influence healthy and promising growing up. Recently they have designated absenteeism as one of them. That is why CJG staff physician Marlijn Küpers and I were invited to lead a discussion on this theme.’
Shifting focus: from absence to presence
Researchers, parents and young people who took part in the discussion agreed: school absenteeism is an indicator of problems in later life. Mijke: ‘It was interesting to hear during the discussion what they see as important points for attention. One of them was that there should be more emphasis on presence rather than absence. Of course it is important that you are missed when you are not there. But it is even more important that you are seen when you are there. The role of the school team is super important in this. Teachers and other employees are often the first to notice that a child is not feeling well.’
Good image, even at a new school
Another important point of attention that came up in the discussion was the transition from one school to another. ‘Especially when switching from secondary education to MBO, a student can easily ‘disappear’ into anonymity’, explains Mijke. ‘Schools already work with transfer documents to share information about pupils, but we now want to see if and how these documents can be adjusted. There may be opportunities there to combat absenteeism even better. And the stories also showed that certain other procedures could use a little more attention. For example, how are children reported sick and to whom? And what is the follow-up?’
More research, more opportunities for improvement
The discussion mainly took place to collect input for further research, says Mijke. She is pleased that her colleagues from Generation R are aware of school absenteeism as a theme. ‘Together with CJG Rijnmond, we work hard to provide good support to children, young people and schools. For example through the PATS method. It is great that the importance of this kind of support is now also placed in a broader perspective. The more research is done, the better we can serve the new generations.’
