Ruth’s Sociology Resources Blog

New statistics on truancy were released today, and there has been much outcry in the press that despite government attempts to “crack down” on truancy there has actually been a rise in truancy from schools over the past year, and the greatest rise has been in truancy from primary schools.

See for example http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/5365416.stm

This raises several questions in my mind:

1. How big is the problem? For primary schools the truancy rate is less than 0.5% of half days - ie for every 200 pupils in school about one will be truanting. For secondary schools the figure is about 1.2% - ie for every 1000 pupils about 12 will be truanting. This suggests that the problem is still significantly greater at secondary schools than primary despite today’s hype. A large number of these truancies are from a small number of children who persistently miss school, suggesting that the number of children to be seriously worried about is small (not that this means that they should not be considered)
2. Why does the government see this as a problem? What are the motives behind the concern? Is it because league tables and exam results are being harmed; is it because there is a fear that some children’s education is being impoverished (which is undoubtedly true); is it because this might harm the economy and the unemployment figures in the long run; is it because we have a set of in-built assumptions that say that children should be in school, without really questioning why; or is it a mixture of all of the above? While there may be no easy answer to this question it is one worth posing - why is truancy a problem?
3. Why do children truant? This is a question that is rarely raised - are the children the problem, or the schools that they truant from? Illich (1976), Freire (1996) and Tooley (2003) all argue from different perspectives that schools as we know them do little to educate children, instead teaching them to conform and not to question; instead they argue that true education is something much more individual, flexible and stimulating, with real purpose for the student. Even Woods (1984) and many others who have no problems with school as a notion, found that the relationships between teachers and students were all important in determining how children behaved in the classroom (and whether they turned up at all). Undoubtedly some parents have an influence on their children’s truancy, but there are probably also significant numbers of children who do not want to go to school because of negative experiences and relationships - soemthing which also needs consideration.
4. How much has truancy been affected by increased government focus on targets and results and resulting changes in teacher practice? I am not sure if there has been any research on this but it is a question worth asking in the light of criticisms of teachers “teaching to the test”.

The answers to these questions are not clear cut - certainly not as clear cut as either the media or the government often portray them to be, so I leave them with you for contemplation.