Northern Ireland school-based anxiousness at ‘epidemic’ ranges

A girl whose youngsters had been off faculty for an extended length because of acute anxiousness has pleaded for assist to get them again into full-time schooling.

Beverly Craig mentioned her son Casey, 14, and 12-year-old daughter Autumn “go into meltdown” anytime they pass close to faculty so they’ve been off for months on finish.

One main psychological well being guide mentioned “school-based anxiety” is “off the Richter scale” in Northern Ireland after BBC News NI discovered that 85,000 youngsters had neglected greater than a 10th of faculty days within the present educational 12 months.

The Department of Education (DE) mentioned expanding scholar attendance was once an “ongoing challenge” and “not unique to Northern Ireland”.

The Children’s Commissioner Chris Quinn is so involved concerning the prime ranges of “emotionally based school avoidance” that he has urged his officers to analyze the phenomenon.

Some of the principle reasons cited are anxiousness, consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD), autism and bullying, both bodily or on-line.

One baby-kisser on my own, the SDLP meeting member Cara Hunter, mentioned she is in contact with 200 households throughout Northern Ireland who’ve youngsters who won’t attend elegance.

More than 4,000 pupils with the very easiest charges of absenteeism are recently referred to experts for assist however it’s unclear what number of of those are related to “emotionally based school avoidance”.

Ms Craig mentioned Casey has now not been in class since Easter of closing 12 months and Autumn has been off since September.

Both are enrolled at Laurel Hill Community College in Lisburn.

The 44-year-old unmarried mom mentioned they in finding the secondary faculty surroundings “overwhelming”.

“It ranges from not being able to eat, not being able to sleep, having just a complete meltdown trying to get through the doors, crying,” she mentioned.

“Didn’t want to get out of bed, didn’t want to get dressed, didn’t want to get in the car – you had these four or five challenges even before you’ve got to the school doors, and then teachers are expecting them just to walk in and continue with their day as normal.”

She mentioned gives of decreased timetables or “time-out” passes, while well-intentioned, in fact made her youngsters really feel worse.

“I just feel like the secondary school setting is not suitable for every child and, unfortunately, the alternative to the secondary school doesn’t exist,” Ms Craig mentioned.

“We’re not in 1925 anymore, we’re in 2025 and the school system has not changed.”

She mentioned schooling government wish to be offering extra assist to other people like her and her youngsters.

Ms Craig is now paying out of her personal pocket to get them schooled in English and arithmetic in a non-public surroundings.

“It’s not that they don’t want to learn,” she mentioned.

“Both of them are very intelligent and they’re willing to learn, but they’re willing to learn in the right settings, just not a big school.”

Omagh-based psychological well being guide Bronagh Starrs believes Northern Ireland is going through an “epidemic” of school-based anxiousness.

She mentioned many of those youngsters are academically succesful and wish to pass to university, however can not.

“They just have catastrophic levels of fear around going to school, they just think of the worst possible scenarios.”

She added: “The difference between truancy and this phenomenon is that parents are usually aware, or very aware, of the issue and are actively trying to help the young person.

“These youngsters have authentic mental struggles to wait faculty.”

She said schoolchildren had become “entrenched” during the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns, when they had to stay at home, and then struggled when schools opened up again.

Ms Starrs said the issue is now “off the Richter scale on the subject of the level of this phenomenon in each faculty”.

Of the 4,120 youngsters referred to the Education and Welfare Service, greater than a 3rd are recently on a ready record, the Education Authority (EA) showed.

Children’s Commissioner Chris Quinn mentioned the prime charges of “school avoidance” – and working out why such a lot of youngsters are concerned – are “a top priority” for his place of work.

He mentioned they have been “exploring issues related to anxiety-based school avoidance, impact of poverty, ill health, long-term impact of Covid-19 and bullying”.

“We need to understand why these children and young people are not returning to school and explore whether their support needs are being met,” he added.

“Additionally, with fewer educational psychologists in schools and the increasing impact of mental health issues, particularly since Covid, we must do more to support children and young people’s wellbeing.”

The Education and Welfare Service (EWS) recently receives a median of 300 referrals each month from faculties about youngsters who don’t seem to be attending elegance, even supposing the reasons can vary from emotional-based faculty avoidance to bodily well being, home abuse and drug and alcohol problems.

From 2019 to May 2025, just about 500 oldsters or guardians have been prosecuted by way of the Education Authority for conserving their youngsters from faculty and not using a legitimate excuse.

Previous figures from the Department of Education (DE) display there was once an important upward thrust at school absences after the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns.

The DE mentioned it recognised that “attitudes towards regular school attendance have changed since the Covid 19 pandemic and that some children and young people face challenges that make regular attendance at school difficult”.

Officials mentioned common attendances had in fact advanced within the closing 3 years and assist was once to be had via emotional well being and wellbeing programmes.

If you could have been suffering from any of the problems raised on this article, details about assist and improve is to be had by means of BBC Action Line.