School attendance among pupils has dropped significantly since the pandemic as large numbers of children miss classes for extended periods, according to a report from the Department of Education.

Meanwhile, the proportion of children who are “happy with the way they are” has fallen “substantially” since before Covid, from 88.2 per cent to 78.5 per cent, according to a wide-ranging report by the Department of Children.

Just more than 25 per cent of all primary school pupils and 20 per cent of all second-level students missed 20 or more school days in the 2022/2023 school year.

This is up significantly from 11 per cent for primary school pupils prior to the pandemic and 14.5 per cent for students at second level in 2018/2019.

“In the UK, researchers have argued that the pandemic has altered the social contract between schools and society fundamentally, and that one of the most notable casualties of this has been regular school attendance,” the report notes. “These concerns are reflected in Ireland in the most recent data provided by Tusla’s Education Support Service.”