Children who miss school for a long time will be supported instead of penalized under a new pilot scheme in Glasgow.
General school attendance has declined across Scotland since the disruption of the Covid pandemic.
Under the new program, psychologists and community workers will visit homes to help students overcome anxiety, stress and mental health issues.
The project will be launched in all Glasgow schools next week.
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The 12-month pilot project will initially target children who attend school less than 60% of the time and will work one-on-one with at least 250 students from secondary and primary schools.
The programme, called REACH, is being run jointly by Glasgow City Council and charity Quarriers.
The Scottish Government said it is making funds available to local authorities to help with poor wellbeing and mental health.
Glasgow City Council chief educational psychologist Barry Syme said the aim was to intervene early to support young people and divert them from the adult mental health system and much worse outcomes and more expensive interventions.
He said: “Rather than treat it as a problem and punish families for not attending, we looked at the underlying reasons behind it.”
Mr Syme said the term ’emotional truancy’ is used to describe when a child feels unable to attend school due to stress or other well-being barriers.
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He added: “Covid has prevented a lot of young people from taking opportunities because they’ve been at home and that’s going to be a real challenge and we probably didn’t see the impact that had.”
Colin Simpson, service coordinator for school services at Quarriers, told BBC Scotland: “What is special about this service is that we can go into the schools and spend time with them and their families at home to help overcome some of those fears and mental health challenges providing a supportive relationship at home.”
St Paul’s Roman Catholic School in the Pollok area of Glasgow will be involved in the pilot project.
Headteacher Lisa Pierotti said the project was part of a range of strategies to support young people who had found it very difficult to settle back into some kind of normality at school in the wake of Covid.
She said there were a number of reasons why children didn’t attend.
“It’s a lack of confidence and a little bit of a lack of resilience for some young people,” she said.
“They need a lot of support, and that’s what schools provide, along with working in partnership with families.”
Robert Smith, 17, is a student at the school.
He attends regularly but understands why other students might find it difficult.
“One reason people might not come to school is because there might be family issues, so there’s nobody in the house pushing them to go to school,” he said.
“And if you don’t have someone behind you encouraging you to go, you won’t go as a teenager because there’s no repercussion, there’s no one moaning at you if you don’t go.”
Emma McDougall, 17, said: “It wasn’t just exam pressure that people felt when they came back from Covid, it was also social pressure, as if they were afraid to speak to new people because they were away from people for so long that this caused even more fear.”
Marlene Asare, 17, loves school but says it can make others anxious.
“For one of my friends, getting to school was a big struggle,” she said.
“They said they always felt anxious and nervous — you know that feeling like everyone’s looking at you but they’re not.”
Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Poor well-being and poor motivation may be some of the underlying causes that can impact attendance and learning.”
“It’s important that the school also works with families to support and engage the students who attend the school,” she said.
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