What threshold do most schools use?

In practice teacher-approval thresholds sit at 1–2 days, while anything beyond a week always escalates to leadership. Vacation requests are typically locked to leadership regardless of length.

Can the policy differ by department?

No — the policy is per school, but department leaders can be granted approval rights via the staff-role module so escalation lands in the right place.

Is a doctor's note required after a fixed number of days?

Up to the school. We recommend 3 consecutive sick days as the threshold, but the field is configurable and displayed automatically to parents.

What happens to pending requests when policy changes?

Already-submitted requests keep the policy that applied at submission. New requests from the next second follow the updated policy. Both versions sit in the audit log.

School leadership

School absence policy leadership sets the limits — the system enforces them

Leadership defines how many days a teacher can approve, when vacation needs leader sign-off, whether sickness is auto-approved, and when a doctor's note is required. The rules are enforced automatically in the parent request form and in the teacher's approval queue.

Contact

Teacher-approval threshold

Set how many days a teacher can approve. Above the limit, requests escalate to leadership automatically.

Auto-approve sickness

Sickness reports can pass through with no wait — or require approval, depending on policy.

Doctor's note after X days

Configure when a request requires documentation — visible to parents in the form.

Vacation always needs leader

Lock 'Vacation' to leadership, or allow teacher approval — one toggle.

Notify the class team

Choose whether the whole team around the pupil is notified — or only the form teacher.

Visible in the parent form

Parents see in real time which rules apply before they submit — fewer rejected requests.

In the classroom

School tightens vacation policy

Leader flips 'Vacation needs leader' to ON — every new request escalates from the next minute.

Teacher offloaded from sickness logging

Auto-approve sickness is enabled — the message lands directly in the class register.

Doctor's note required after 3 days

Threshold is set to 3 — parents see it in the form and can attach documentation immediately.

Leadership and teachers — policy and practice

School leadership

Set the school's rules in one place: how many days a teacher can approve, when vacation needs leader sign-off, whether sickness is auto-approved, and from when a doctor's note is required. Rules are enforced automatically across the parent form and teacher queue.

Threshold per request type
Auto-approve / require decision
Policy visible to parents
Audit log on every policy change

Teachers & class team

Teachers don't need to know the rules by heart — the system shows what can be approved, what must escalate, and notifies the whole class team if the policy requires it.

Clear queue: 'mine' vs 'leader's'
Escalation without email threads
Notify the whole class team (optional)
Rules visible in the parent form

Works with

Parent absence request Student absence Staff absence Staff leave requests

Research & regulatory base

Børne- og Undervisningsministeriet (2024). Folkeskoleloven §39 — undervisningspligt og fravær. Retsinformation source
Børne- og Undervisningsministeriet (2024). Bekendtgørelse om elevers fravær i folkeskolen. Retsinformation source
Børne- og Undervisningsministeriet (2023). Vejledning om indberetning af ulovligt fravær og standsning af børneydelse. uvm.dk source
European Parliament & Council (2016). Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) — Article 5: data minimisation & purpose limitation. EUR-Lex source
Department for Education (UK) (2023). Working together to improve school attendance — statutory guidance. gov.uk source
OECD (2023). PISA 2022 Results (Vol. II): Learning during — and from — disruption. OECD Publishing source
OECD (2020). TALIS 2018 Results (Vol. II): Teachers and School Leaders as Valued Professionals. OECD Publishing source

Frequently asked questions

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