What

Emotionally based school avoidance is a term that describes a child or young person being unable to go to school because of issues that make them feel negative emotions – anxious thoughts and feelings in particular. For this reason it’s also sometimes referred to as school anxiety.

EBSA used to be called school refusal, and it’s still referred to as this in a lot of information you’ll find online. However this is an outdated term that places blame on the child by implying they’re making a straightforward decision to refuse to go to school. It also doesn’t acknowledge the reason why the child can’t go to school, and it’s this that we need to get to the bottom of.