Updated: 7 November, 2024

“Why is attendance important?” For students, families, educators, and entire communities, the answer to this question reveals how essential attendance is for academic achievement, social development, and long-term success. Consistent attendance builds a foundation that helps students stay on track academically and form positive habits that benefit them throughout life. This article not only explores the importance of attendance from the perspectives of teachers, parents, students, and schools but also introduces an effective way to track attendance, providing everyone involved with valuable insights to support better attendance outcomes.

Key takeaways

• Consistent attendance is critical for academic success, personal growth, and developing lifelong habits like responsibility and self-discipline.
• Each group—teachers, schools, parents, and students—can play a unique role in promoting better attendance, from creating engaging classrooms to establishing supportive routines at home.
• Effective attendance tracking is essential to understanding and improving attendance patterns. Attendance Radar is introduced as a user-friendly tool for tracking attendance, providing valuable data to help schools, families, and students stay informed and address attendance issues proactively.
• By combining the efforts of everyone involved and utilizing reliable tracking data, we can create a positive environment that encourages students to attend school regularly and thrive academically.

Why is attendance important?

There are several reasons why attendance is important. Attendance is related to better academic achievement, the development of good habits, better outcomes later in life and stronger social and emotional development. This section will dive into each of the reasons why attendance is important, providing references to academic articles that evidence them.

Attendance and better academic outcomes

Regular attendance is foundational for academic achievement. Students who attend school consistently are more likely to excel academically, as they have greater exposure to critical learning opportunities. A study published in the International Journal of Psychological Studies summarized the results of 62 studies that studied the relationship between class attendance and academic performance with over 21000 students. The study found that student attendance was the single strongest predictor of academic performance in university, having a strong relationship with class grades and overall GPA. How attendance relates to better academic performance is a topic we have covered in-depth in another article.

Long-term benefits of consistent attendance

Attendance habits cultivated early in a student’s life set the stage for future success. Regular attendance fosters discipline, time management, and accountability, qualities that benefit students in higher education and later in the workforce. Studies reveal that students with good attendance, especially at a younger age, are more likely to pursue higher education, be part of the labour force, and experience overall better life satisfaction and stability.

Attendance relates to better social and emotional development

Beyond academics, consistent attendance contributes to students’ social and emotional growth. By attending school regularly, students have more opportunities to build friendships, engage in group activities, and develop a sense of belonging. These social interactions are essential for emotional well-being, as they foster resilience, teamwork, and communication skills that are invaluable both in and out of school. This is further evidenced by a study carried out by the School of Education and Information Studies of UCLA that found that extended absences from school have the strongest negative impact on social development. The social consequences of missing class have also been covered more in-depth in another article written by us.

Finally, this all goes to say that attendance to class can prepare students for future success. By improving academic performance, building good habits and developing students social and emotional capabilities, attendance to class proves to be crucial for a student’s success.

As a teaching assistant, what can I tell you about the importance of student attendance? 

As a teaching assistant at Erasmus University for two years, I saw firsthand the importance of class attendance across the ten courses I taught, each with 15 to 30 students. While every course had its unique content, the value of attending class was a common thread throughout.

For me, teaching was far more enjoyable when more students were present. A full class often meant more engagement and participation, which made the sessions more interactive and fulfilling to teach. In courses where attendance wasn’t mandatory, seeing a full room was especially motivating, as it indicated that students were genuinely interested in the material. Their presence felt like an appreciation for my efforts, inspiring me to do my best in return.

Attendance also consistently impacted student performance. In class, students had the chance to clarify any questions and gain insights into exam-style questions I would discuss. Engaging with these questions helped them learn not just the answers but how to approach problem-solving effectively—a skill that paid off during exams.

Finally, attendance fostered social connections. I often observed students bonding during breaks, forming friendships and study groups that enriched their university experience. Attending class, in this way, supported not only academic growth but also a sense of community and shared learning.

How to improve attendance? 

This article serves to highlight the strong importance of attending to school. This then begs the question, if attendance is so important, how can we improve it? This section will focus on answering this question from the perspective of teachers, of the institution, of parents and finally of students themselves.

How can I improve attendance as a teacher?

As a teacher your main focus should be on improving student engagement, which will ultimately lead to higher attendance. In an article written by me and Dr. Dag Flachet, a professor at Geneva Business School with over 6 years of experience, we explored the best strategies to improve student engagement. In this article we identified five key ways to improve attendance as a teacher, which are:

• Adjusting the difficulty of the content to make the content challenging yet doable.
• Connecting with your students to build a stronger relationship with them.
• Making the class active and encouraging participation.
• Giving real-life examples of how the content can be applied.
• Gamifying your course.

How can I improve attendance as a school?

To improve student attendance, schools can start by addressing common obstacles that prevent students from coming to class. By offering resources like transportation support, mental health counseling, and access to healthcare, schools can help remove these barriers. Engaging parents and the community also strengthens the message of attendance’s importance, creating a network that encourages students to attend regularly. Recognizing students for high attendance through rewards or acknowledgment can provide positive reinforcement, while fostering a welcoming and engaging school environment makes students feel connected and motivated to show up every day. In another blog post about the consequences of skipping school we have a section that answers this question more in-depth.

How can I improve attendance as a parent?

As a parent, you can improve your child’s attendance by building consistent routines that make school a reliable part of their daily life. Setting regular bedtimes, preparing for school the night before, and creating a smooth morning routine can ease stress and make it easier for them to show up each day. Engaging in open conversations about any worries they may have at school—whether social, academic, or emotional—helps address potential obstacles early. Celebrating good attendance with small rewards or encouragement reinforces positive habits and fosters a sense of responsibility. Instilling these habits early not only supports their current school success but also prepares them for university, where the skills of time management, accountability, and self-discipline become crucial. This strong foundation in attendance can help them thrive in higher education and beyond, giving them an advantage in both academic and career pursuits.

How can I improve my attendance as a student?

As a student, you can improve your attendance by setting a consistent morning routine that helps you get to school on time, like preparing your bag and outfit the night before and setting an alarm to start your day early. Try to get enough sleep so you’re rested and ready to learn. If there’s something you’re struggling with—whether it’s a subject, a social issue, or anything making it hard to attend—don’t hesitate to talk with a teacher or counselor for support. You could also set small goals, like a weekly reward for perfect attendance, to keep yourself motivated. Attending class regularly helps build self-discipline and organization, which will make balancing schoolwork and activities much easier over time. This question has also been answered in another article that presents seven essential tips to build the habit of going to school.

To improve attendance you need to track it, here’s how to do it best

To effectively improve attendance, it’s essential to track it. Consistent, reliable data on attendance enables students, teachers, parents, and schools to understand attendance patterns and identify any emerging issues early. By monitoring attendance, schools can offer targeted support where needed, while parents and teachers can encourage better attendance through personalized strategies. Tracking allows students to set attendance goals, making it easier to stay accountable and motivated. In short, gathering and analyzing attendance data provides a foundation for everyone involved to create a supportive, proactive environment that fosters regular attendance and strengthens educational outcomes. That is why we have covered all the different ways to check student attendance in another blog post, presenting as well our solution, which we believe is the best. That solution is of course, Attendance Radar.

Attendance Radar is a mobile application for tracking student attendance, which is available for free. The app utilizes a secure Bluetooth signal to register attendance. To begin, teachers can set up a course within the app and students can join by selecting the appropriate signal emitted by the teacher’s app. During each class, the teacher can activate a signal which students can click on their app to mark themselves as present. The app then generates an attendance list which teachers can use to log attendance into their system. If students do not have a phone or have forgotten theirs, they can request the teacher to manually register their attendance. Furthermore, the app is able to integrate and sync information with any LMS or student information system your university uses.  Interested in trying it out? You can download it for free below.