Should attendance be mandatory throughout school?

As an experienced primary school Headteacher, over the years I have amassed a set of catchphrases. One of these is “in our school, every lesson counts”, and “children who come to school regularly and on time make better progress than those that don’t”.

I do not believe that attending school should be optional. As well as the obvious benefits of being taught by expert teachers and of students sharing and collaborating on their learning with their peers, students of all ages still have so much to learn.

I wrote an article for Edarabia on my views on whether attendance should be mandatory in schools. You can read the full article here:
https://www.edarabia.com/should-attendance-mandatory-schools/