Pupil Absence in English Schools by Geographic Area, 2004-2008

England's pupil absence data includes the total number of day pupils, possible pupil sessions, and percentages of sessions missed due to authorized, unauthorized, and total absence. The dataset, sourced from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, covers maintained primary and secondary schools. It provides figures from the 2004/05 to 2007/08 school years across Middle Layer Super Output Areas, Local Authority Districts, and Government Office Regions.

Use Cases

• Analyze regional trends in school absenteeism based on geographic breakdowns to MSOA, LAD, and GOR levels.
• Compare authorized versus unauthorized absence rates across different school types and years.
• Model the relationship between pupil enrollment figures and absence percentages for compulsory school-age children.
• Assess the impact of local education policies by tracking absence metrics over the 2004-2008 period.

Strengths

• Provides a four-year time series from 2004/05 to 2007/08, allowing for longitudinal analysis.
• Includes data aggregated at three distinct geographic levels: MSOA, LAD, and GOR.
• Distinguishes between authorized and unauthorized absence percentages, offering granularity on absence reasons.
• Focuses on compulsory school-age pupils in maintained primary and secondary schools, providing a targeted population.

Limitations

• Data is over 15 years old (2004-2008), limiting its relevance for current policy analysis without more recent updates.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and sample data are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific modeling tasks.

Provenance

Source

Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)

Collection Method

Survey (census)

Time Range

2004/05 to 2007/08

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:31:19.181632; freshness should be verified as the underlying data is historical.

Geography

England