Coping with life by coping with school? School non-attendance in young people

Young people who feel unable to attend school have always been a concern, and the incidence of this concern has heightened since the Covid-19 pandemic. In this chapter we explore psychological explanations for what may be happening when a young person avoids attending school. We begin by considering various terms that have been adopted in relation to explaining extended school non-attendance. The particular focus here is the form of school non-attendance that is often known as school refusal, or by practitioners as extended or emotionally based non-attendance. Considering a range of theoretical formulations for persistent non-attendance will lead us to understand how these may in turn influence interventions. The literature guides us to a particular focus on the role of anxiety, and this is reflected in interventions, which are recommended to be optimal when multi-component. We shall see the influence of contexts upon a young person refusing to attend for education, for example family and school, and explore what this may imply for the work of a practitioner. Throughout, the individual and varying nature of the problem for young people with extended school non-attendance will be acknowledged.