CONTRIBUTORS
The impact of missed schooling on future careers and adult life – do the statistics add up?
EMMA SANDERSON, Managing Director of Momenta Connect, part of Outcomes First Group, a leading provider of world class education, discusses missed education and future success.
For school leaders, attendance is no longer a background metric, it sits at the centre of inspection, accountability and public debate. Absence rates are routinely linked to future life chances, with statistics suggesting that missed schooling leads to poorer career outcomes and lower lifetime earnings. These claims carry significant weight in leadership discussions, but they also demand careful interpretation if they are to inform effective strategy rather than reactive policy.
There is little doubt that strong
attendance supports attainment. From a leadership perspective, the relationship is visible in outcomes data, year after year - pupils who attend regularly are more likely to secure key qualifications, particularly in English and mathematics. Because learning builds cumulatively, even small amounts of absence can disrupt progress, especially for pupils already working near key thresholds. This makes attendance a legitimate priority for governing bodies and senior leadership teams seeking to raise standards.
However, school leaders are acutely aware that attendance data rarely tells the full story. The pupils driving absence figures are often those with the most complex needs - pupils with SEND, mental health difficulties, or challenging home circumstances. While statistics may show a clear association between absence and poorer adult outcomes, they do not capture the layered causes behind why pupils are missing school. For leaders, this distinction matters. Treating absence as a standalone problem, risks misdiagnosing an issue that is in reality, a symptom of wider pressures both inside and beyond the school gates.
There is also a challenge in how long-term impact statistics are used. Projections linking days missed at school to future earnings can be persuasive, but can oversimplify the pathways young people actually take. School leaders know that success does not follow a single linear route. Vocational education, apprenticeships, alternative provision and post-16 re-engagement, all offer viable outcomes that are not always reflected in headline data. An overreliance on narrow measures can inadvertently devalue these pathways and distort priorities.
For leadership teams, the key question is not whether attendance matters - it clearly does - but how the data should shape practice. Effective attendance strategies increasingly sit alongside, rather than instead of, pastoral systems, mental health support, inclusive curriculum design, and strong relationships with families. Leaders who see attendance as part of a wider culture of belonging and engagement, are more likely to secure sustainable improvements than those relying solely on monitoring and sanctions. Ultimately, the statistics do add up in one important respect: missed schooling carries risk, particularly for the most vulnerable pupils. But they should be used as a diagnostic tool, not a blunt instrument. For school leaders navigating intense accountability pressures, the challenge is to balance data-driven urgency with professional judgement, recognising that improving attendance is as much about addressing underlying need, as it is about driving compliance.
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www.education-today.co.uk
B Corp certification: working together to make the education system fairer As Class People gains B Corp
certification, Managing Director NAOMI HOWELLS discusses the merits of being a B Corp.
What happens in schools affects the quality of education that kids and teens get – and so does the larger system that supports teaching, learning, and community health. Workforce stability,
hiring and keeping employees, fair pay, and how companies measure success are all parts of that ecosystem.
B Corporation (B Corp) certification is one way that companies are being pushed to rethink these choices. The standard, which is given out after an independent review of governance, people, community, and environmental impact, challenges businesses to find a balance between making money and being socially responsible and accountable. This is important for schools because hiring and keeping good teachers is a key part of giving students more chances to learn. For example, there are still big problems in England with not enough teachers and workers in the early years. Schools have had the highest number of open positions ever, with reports showing that there were more than six unfilled teaching positions for every 1,000 students in 2024 – double the number before the pandemic. This shows that it is still hard to find and keep good teachers. In the same way, early years providers have a hard time staffing key funded entitlement hours. More than half of them don’t have enough staff to provide legally required care for two-year-olds, which makes it harder to get care and lowers its quality.
In this case, purposeful business practice isn’t just a catchphrase; it has real effects on the people who work in education and the communities they serve. Organisations can help create a stronger workforce and a fairer system for learners by measuring social and ethical impact along with financial impact.
Class People is currently the only education recruitment company to hold B Corp certification. Our commitment to creating genuine, positive impact for future generations sets a standard that should be recognised – and matched. If we are truly united by a shared commitment to our shared future, then the goliath organisations of our sector, with their vast reach and influence, must rise to this responsibility and lead the change our education system deserves.
The B Corp framework encourages businesses to think about how their policies and priorities affect everything from the health of their employees to the long-term outcomes for the community. According to the UK B Corp movement, certified businesses are 25% more likely than regular businesses to pay all of their employees a family living wage and 114% more likely to have community representation on their boards. Fair pay and community involvement are two indicators that are very similar to the conditions that can make it easier to hire and keep teachers and give all teachers and students equal opportunities. Purpose-driven practice also helps businesses think about more than just short-term profits. In the field of education, this could mean putting money into professional development, open hiring practices, or community engagement projects that make it easier for people to get jobs in teaching and childcare. These are all things that can help ease staffing pressures and make learning experiences for kids more consistent. As problems with the education workforce keep putting pressure on schools and providers, the roles of people and organisations in the ecosystem become more important. Making choices about who to hire, how to treat people, and how to create and share value on purpose helps build a system that gives future generations a better start and more chances to succeed. The B Corp framework gives us a way to work together to address these problems.
February 2026
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