Northern Ireland school-based anxiety at 'epidemic' levels
A woman whose children have been off school for a long period due to acute anxiety has pleaded for help to get them back into full-time education.Beverly Craig said her son Casey, 14, and 12-year-old daughter Autumn "go into meltdown" anytime they go near school so they have been off for months on end.One leading mental health consultant said "school-based anxiety" is "off the Richter scale" in Northern Ireland after BBC News NI learned that 85,000 children had missed more than a tenth of school days in the current academic year.The Department of Education (DE) said increasing pupil attendance was an "ongoing challenge" and "not unique to Northern Ireland".
The Children's Commissioner Chris Quinn is so concerned about the high levels of "emotionally based school avoidance" that he has instructed his officials to investigate the phenomenon.Some of the main causes cited are anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and bullying, either physical or online.One politician alone, the SDLP assembly member Cara Hunter, said she is in touch with 200 families across Northern Ireland who have children who will not attend class.More than 4,000 pupils with the very highest rates of absenteeism are currently referred to specialists for help but it is unclear how many of these are linked to "emotionally based school avoidance".
The children who find school 'overwhelming'
Ms Craig said Casey has not been at school since Easter of last year and Autumn has been off since September.Both are enrolled at Laurel Hill Community College in Lisburn.The 44-year-old single mother said they find the secondary school environment "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 said."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 said offers of reduced timetables or "time-out" passes, whilst well-intentioned, actually made her children 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 said."We're not in 1925 anymore, we're in 2025 and the school system has not changed."She said education authorities need to offer more help to people like her and her children.Ms Craig is now paying out of her own pocket to get them schooled in English and mathematics in a private setting."It's not that they don't want to learn," she said."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."
Northern Ireland school-based anxiety 'off the Richter scale'
Omagh-based mental health consultant Bronagh Starrs believes Northern Ireland is facing an "epidemic" of school-based anxiety.She said many of these children are academically capable and want to go to school, but cannot."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 kids have genuine psychological struggles to attend school."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 in terms of the extent of this phenomenon in every school".
How big is the emotional-based school avoidance problem?
SDLP assembly member Cara Hunter described it as the biggest issue she has dealt with since being elected to Stormont five years ago.She said a lot of young people are waiting on an autism or ADHD assessment and feel the school environment is "anxiety-inducing".It was also very distressing for parents who "don't know where to go for guidance", she added."I've spoken with a number of parents who've actually had to leave their job because their child is not attending school, so it's a massive issue across Northern Ireland."We have a big problem here."Hunter also accused education authorities of "failing quite a large number of children" because they have not recognised the severity of the problem.
Of the 4,120 children referred to the Education and Welfare Service, more than a third are currently on a waiting list, the Education Authority (EA) confirmed.Children's Commissioner Chris Quinn said the high rates of "school avoidance" - and understanding why so many children are involved - are "a top priority" for his office. He said they were "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) currently receives an average of 300 referrals every month from schools about children who are not attending class, although the causes can range from emotional-based school avoidance to physical health, domestic abuse and drug and alcohol issues. From 2019 to May 2025, nearly 500 parents or guardians were prosecuted by the Education Authority for keeping their children from school without a valid excuse.
Previous figures from the Department of Education (DE) show there was a significant rise in school absences after the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns.The DE said 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 said regular attendances had actually improved in the last three years and help was available through emotional health and wellbeing programmes.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, information about help and support is available via BBC Action Line.
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