Reframing Our Response to School Non-Attendance: The Neuroaffirmative Participation Framework Centring Students’ Experiences

Abstract

School non-attendance affects a growing number of students. Their non-attendance is partly a reflection of school systems that fail to accommodate diversity, yet this systemic lens is neglected in most current responses to school non-attendance. This paper describes a participatory research framework that facilitates the meaningful involvement of students experiencing school non-attendance. We argue that this approach will contribute to a better understanding of what schools should look like from the perspective of the non-attending students, thus developing a more inclusive approach to researching this topic. The method described in this paper outlines the establishment of a Children’s Research Advisory Group (CRAG) composed of young people who advise on the design, implementation and dissemination of the research. Grounded in a rights-based framework that emphasises total communication and inclusive space, the study combines the Lundy Model of Child Participation with the Autistic SPACE Framework to develop the Neuroaffirmative Participation (NAP) Framework. The NAP Framework positions accessibility as the foundation of engagement for all, recognising that meaningful participation depends on environments that accommodate diverse sensory, processing and communication preferences. The method offers a structured yet flexible, replicable framework for international scholars seeking to design inclusive, participatory studies with children and young people experiencing school avoidance and school non-attendance. It has the potential for wider application to other topics critical to education which are not currently understood from the perspective of marginalised groups of students.