POLITICIANS have created a “febrile climate” that has led to more parents keeping their children at home over disputes with schools, a headteachers’ union chief will say today.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) president John Camp will warn that the “unwritten social contract” between families and schools is “fracturing” as some politicians and commentators are “far too quick to take potshots at schools.”

In a speech at the union’s annual conference, he will call for a “change of tone” in the national conversation about education.

His comments come as a survey for ASCL found that 32 per cent of teachers and school leaders have experienced pupils being absent this academic year because of a parental dispute with the school.

He will say that “education needs to be something that is held in esteem… and if politicians and commentators are constantly running down teachers and schools, and giving the impression that we can’t be trusted, then they’re helping to create a division.

“It creates a febrile climate. And when social media is added into the mix, things can get very nasty very quickly. As I am sure many of us have experienced.

“This is a hugely complex issue. But what I find alarming is those reasons which suggest absence from school may not be seen in the way it used to.”

The poll by the Teacher Tapp app asked 8,411 teachers and leaders in state schools in England in January what reasons they had been given for pupils missing school this academic year other than for illness.

The Department for Education said “good attendance is vital” for pupils.