A growing number of children in Australia are struggling to attend school – the reasons why are complex and varied.

"School refusal" refers to kids who experience emotional distress around school. Many experts and families argue the more accurate term is "school can't", as it's not a deliberate choice by the child.

Four Corners follows families battling the blame, shame and fear of missing out on education – and visits some of the schools attempting to tackle the problem.

This episode was originally broadcast as ‘The Kids Who Can’t’ on April 29 on ABC TV and ABC iview.

Read more about Four Corners’ investigation into school refusal and the families featured in the documentary here: https://ab.co/3UBSaz1

What are your options if your child is struggling to go to school? See here: https://ab.co/3w4T2mD

Four Corners is Australia’s premier investigations documentary series.

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Note: In most cases, our captions are auto-generated.

00:00 - Growing trend of 'school refusal'
02:36 - Alice and Frieda's story
09:22 - Mental health and education
11:53 - 'School Can't'
14:55 - Classrooms like 'zoos'
19:10 - Managing homeschooling and life
27:07 - A problem with the system?
30:04 - Specialist schools
33:10 - Ethan's story
37:43 - Acacia Program
45:52 - Where are they now?