Australia faces a mounting challenge in its classrooms: on any typical school day in 2025, about 11% of students are absent. This marks a sharp rise from 7% in 2014 and reflects a trend education experts say demands urgent national attention.
The Grattan Institute’s recent analysis shows the problem extends well beyond a small group of chronically absent students. Two in five students now miss about one day of school each fortnight on average, while the share of students attending regularly – defined as at least 90% of the time – has fallen from 71% in 2019 to just 59% in 2024.
The academic cost
Research shows every single day of absence affects student achievement. A study examining NAPLAN results in Western Australia found each missed day was linked to lower scores across numeracy, reading, and writing. The ripple effects extend beyond individual students, adding pressure on teachers managing catch-up work, disrupting classmates’ learning, and increasing the burden on parents balancing work and care responsibilities.
Behind the absences
An analysis of records from nearly one-third of Australian government school students, from the first year of school through to Year 12 between 2017 and 2024, identifies illness as the main driver of rising absences. Students missed an average of 11.6 days for illness or medical appointments in 2024, up from 6.6 days in 2017 – an extra week per student.
Family-related absences, including term-time holidays, have more than doubled since 2017, averaging about four days a year in 2024. Meanwhile, disciplinary absences such as suspensions have remained low and stable.
Learning from England
England’s response to similar post-pandemic attendance challenges offers a possible roadmap. Since making school attendance a system-wide priority in 2021, England has lifted its attendance rate to 94%, compared with Australia’s 89%. The approach includes daily attendance reporting by schools, improved data dashboards for school leaders, and coordinated meetings between education, health, policing, and children’s services leaders.
Health professionals in England have also issued guidance on attending school with mild illness, while medical bodies have recommended scheduling appointments outside school hours where possible.
The path forward
Federal and state education ministers have committed to lifting Australia’s school attendance rate back to 91% – the 2019 level – by the end of the decade. The Grattan Institute says the target will require more than minor adjustments. It will depend on better data systems, clearer health guidance for families, and coordinated action across sectors to ensure every child can learn every day.