School phobia is when a child or teenager is struggling to attend school due to anxiety. Phobias are a form of anxiety disorder and can range across specific sub-phobias including social anxiety, academic performance anxiety, separation anxiety, and more. School phobia is oftentimes a better term than 'School refusal' because with school phobia, a child may very well want to attend school, be social, and perform well but is unable to do so due to anxiety. School phobia is highly treatable with adjustments in behavior and response to feared situations.

School phobia is not an official phobia diagnoses and instead often refers to children who are unable to attend school consistently due to anxiety or other phobia. For students with anxiety school becomes the main place where they are forced to face their fear. This then manifests in the form of school refusal, avoidance, and fear.