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![](/i/favi32.png) April 22nd-28th 2023 Ukraine’s game planpartment of Education are pulling data inThe Economist partment of Education are pulling data in
real time from many schools’ own data
bases; they have started to show teachers
how their absence rates compare with
those elsewhere. Boosters hope it will also
become easier for schools to detect pat
terns of absence that suggest a child is
struggling with more than the odd bug.
Deciding what to do with such informa
tion is tricky, in part because persistent ab
sences have such a wide array of causes.
Officials are encouraging schools which
have very good attendance records to share
tips with worse performers. The govern
ment has also begun paying “attendance
advisers”, some of them former head
teachers, to spread best practice. That in
cludes obvious but vital things such as set
ting high expectations for attendance and
making school as engaging as possible.
More compelling is a plan to hire and
train “attendance mentors”, people who
work onetoone with pupils who are fre
quently absent, in the hope of tackling pro
blems that are keeping them out of class.
This idea is sound but present ambitions
are weedy, reckons Ms Prescott. The gov
ernment’s pilot programme, launched this
year in Middlesbrough, will benefit only
about 1,600 children over three years. Ms
Prescott’s organisation would like to see
the government hire around 2,000 men
tors nationally at a cost of £80m ($100m).
Making a real dent in the problem
means fixing other overloaded systems.
Long
NHS
waiting lists stymie access to
children’s mentalhealth services. Getting
authorities to recognise a child’s special
educational needs—which unlocks funds
and other help—often requires multiple
appeals. While these problems linger, old
fashioned approaches, such as fining par
ents of absent youngsters, are unlikely to
work. The pandemic’s woeful impact on
children has not run its course.
n
The missing
England, persistent-absence rate* in schools, %
Autumn terms
Source: Department for Education
*Missing 10% or more
of possible sessions
50
40
30
20
10
0
22
21
20
19
18
17
2016
Additional, related
to covid-19
Persistent-absence*
W
hen Nicola Sturgeon
suddenly
announced her resignation as
leader of the Scottish National Party
(
SNP
) and first minister of Scotland on
February 15th, she declared she wanted a
more private life. If anything, the glare of
attention has intensified.
On April 5th police arrested and re
leased without charge Peter Murrell, Ms
Sturgeon’s husband, who also served as
the
SNP
’s former chief executive. Cops
are investigating claims that £667,000
($829,000) raised to support a second
referendum on Scottish independence
was improperly spent on other things.
They confiscated a swanky motorhome
from the driveway of Mr Murrell’s elderly
mother. On April 18th police arrested and
released without charge Colin Beattie,
the party’s treasurer (who stepped back
from the role the following day). The
men are two of three “registered officers”
on the party’s accounts. The third is Ms
Sturgeon; Holyrood is rife with spec
ulation that she will be questioned, too.
Humza Yousaf, elected by
SNP
mem
bers to replace Ms Sturgeon on March
27th, appears powerless to contain the
chaos. Unlike his imperious predecessor,
Mr Yousaf cuts a rather passive figure. So
far he has acted more like a bemused
narrator of the mess rather than the new
broom who will clean it all up. “I’ll have
to speak to Colin Beattie. My understand
ing is he’s still in the police station being
questioned,” he declared, when first
asked whether Mr Beattie could continue
to sit on a party committee. “Yes, of
course I’m surprised when one of my
colleagues has been arrested,” he added,
in a quote for the ages.
Mr Yousaf was the source of the reve
lation that the
SNP
had been without
auditors for six months, after the previ
ous firm’s resignation in October. He was
unaware of that until he became leader,
he said. His closest rival for the leader
ship, Kate Forbes, declares it all “mind
blowing”. “We need decisive and quick
action or we will be in trouble,” she said,
in what sounded like a job application.
News of Mr Beattie’s arrest broke
hours before Mr Yousaf delivered the
first major policy address of his term,
optimistically titled: “New Leadership, A
Fresh Start for Scotland”. Mr Yousaf did
indeed ditch chunks of Ms Sturgeon’s
agenda. But that was not so much born of
political conviction—he campaigned as
her political apprentice—but because it
wasn’t working. A faltering bottlede
posit scheme will be delayed and plans to
restrict alcohol advertising reconsidered.
Of the second referendum Ms Sturgeon
hankered for, there was not a word.
The SNP
Thistle hurt
A deepening crisis in Scotland’s ruling party
To the victor, the spoiled
012
23
The Economist
April 22nd 2023
Britain
The local elections
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