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Ross Morrison McGill founded @TeacherToolkit in 2007, and today, he is one of the ‘most followed educators’on social media in the world. In 2015, he was nominated as one of the ‘500 Most Influential People in Britain’ by The Sunday Times as a result of…
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Is Friday the new ‘day off school’ for students?
Reducing Friday absences could yield substantial gains in student achievement, particularly in more deprived areas.
Why Fridays matter more than we think
This new research, The ‘Friday effect’: School attendance over the week (Clifton-Sprigg & James, 2024), published in the British Educational Research Journal, explores how students in England are significantly more likely to miss school on a Friday.
Using nationwide daily attendance data, it shows that absence rates jump by 1.5 percentage points on Fridays—a 20% increase over other weekdays.
The study looks at attendance patterns across England’s state-funded schools for the 2022/23 academic year. It finds a consistent spike in both authorised and unauthorised absences on Fridays. Authorised absences (such as illness) were 0.81 percentage points higher, and unauthorised absences were 0.71 percentage points higher on Fridays than on other weekdays.
The pattern is even more pronounced in deprived areas, especially in secondary schools. In the most persistently absent regions, the Friday effect was 51% stronger than in areas with the lowest levels of absence. Friday absences are notably higher before bank holidays and half-term breaks—suggesting families are starting holidays early.
Are Fridays seen as ‘easier’ days?
Reading about “FOMO Fridays” at Friesland School, with golden tickets and red-carpet assemblies, this echoes what I’d always believed about school: Fridays (and Mondays) need to feel unforgettable for students!
Missing school—particularly on a regular basis—disrupts learning and contributes to achievement gaps. According to the above research, addressing the Friday effect could lead to a 1.15% standard deviation increase in test scores and a 0.14–0.25% rise in future earnings.
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What the data tells us? Attendance matters
This new research, The Impact of School Absence on Lifetime Earnings, published by the Department for Education (March 2025) suggests,
… pupils who had between 95-100% attendance in Year 11 were 1.9 times more likely to achieve a Grade 5 in English and Maths GCSE compared to pupils who only attended 90-95% of the time (DfE, 2025).
It created quite a stir when I shared this online, yet, on page 5 in the executive summary it says, “We caution against overly strong causal interpretations of these findings.” You could be forgiven for missing this sentence.
For school and college leaders, this raises important questions about how the school week is structured and what message is being sent about Fridays. Are Fridays seen as ‘lighter’ days? Are parents disengaging from the idea that every day counts?
For students from disadvantaged backgrounds, regular Friday absences could further entrench inequality, so every school continues to audit current attendance data, especially day-by-day and lesson-by-lesson. Look for patterns: which students are missing Fridays? Is this linked to specific lessons or school events?
Then, think about how Fridays are framed in your curriculum. Could more engaging activities, practical projects or enrichment opportunities be saved for the end of the week to encourage attendance? School and college leaders might consider adapting timetables or reviewing behaviour policies to place greater emphasis on Friday attendance.
Strong communication with parents is key. Share this research with them. Explain the academic and financial impact of missed Fridays—and the importance of showing up, right until the end of the week.
CPD questions for teachers:
- How many students in this class regularly miss school on Fridays?
- What learning experiences currently take place on Fridays?
- Could Fridays be restructured to increase student engagement?
- Could teachers be unintentionally reinforcing the idea that Fridays matter less?
- How are absence patterns monitored and reported by the school?
- What support is in place for persistently absent students?
- How are parents and carers informed about the impact of missing Fridays?
- Do Friday absences spike before holidays in this school?
- How can attendance messaging be reframed more positively?
- What professional development is needed to help staff tackle absenteeism?
The research concludes:
Not being able to fully explain why the ‘Friday effect’ occurs is a limitation of the paper. [Plus, we] only examine 1 year of data. Future work should verify whether the ‘Friday effect’ continues over time.
Download the full research paper to explore the data in more detail.
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