Early action nearly halves worrying absenteeism at Aalborg school

An early focus on responding to pupil absence has nearly halved worrying absenteeism at Sønderholm School in Aalborg Municipality, DR reports.

The school does not recognise the picture of widespread truancy presented by the latest PISA survey, which found that 28 percent of pupils had skipped school in the previous two weeks.

“I was genuinely surprised. We do not actually use the word truancy in everyday life, and I cannot remember the last time it was used,” said Rune Træholt, head of Sønderholm School.

In recent years, the school has focused on identifying absence at an early stage, before it becomes more serious. Every two weeks, a school social worker visits to review attendance records with the school’s wellbeing adviser. They examine individual cases and try to detect rising absence early.

The school also maintains close contact with teachers and contacts parents so that pupils do not develop high levels of undetected absence.

The efforts have produced a clear reduction among the school’s nearly 200 pupils. In the 2023 to 2024 school year, 20 percent had been absent for more than 10 percent of school time. In the most recent school year, that figure had fallen to 12.9 percent.

Across Aalborg Municipality, 24 percent of pupils had more than 10 percent absence in the 2024 to 2025 school year.

“I am proud both of the school’s efforts and of the way parents take school seriously as an important part of everyday life,” Træholt said.

Pupils also contribute to making school a place they want to attend. Oliver Munk, a seventh-grade pupil, said he had never skipped school and did not know many people who talked much about truancy.

Mathilde Jepsen, an eighth-grade pupil, said pupils paid close attention to how one another were doing. They often spent time together in a large group and sat at shared lunch tables.

Træholt said dialogue with parents was crucial. Some parents had not realised that their child’s absence was high, he said, but recognised the pattern when the school discussed it with them. In some cases, the absence had involved additional care days or shopping trips with the family.