
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, warned of “increasingly strained relationships” between schools and some parents.
Speaking at the ASCL annual conference in Liverpool, he said that the continued challenge of addressing student absence post-Covid is placing huge strain on relationships.
He said that the huge increases in the number of parental fines for absence being issued had not solved the problem and, indeed, was deepening tensions.
He called, instead, for the social contract between parents and schools to be “renewed and refreshed”.
Mr Di’Iasio said: “We all know something changed in society after the Covid-19 pandemic. I can’t pinpoint exactly why, but for some families, school seems to have become – at least in part – optional. And that mindset persists.
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