THE MANAGEMENT OF TRUANCY

A concern with attempting to understand and explain the causes of truancy and to offer a "solution" which might reduce the numbers of pupils absent from schools has dominated work in the area of non-attendance. Little has been done to examine those agencies which "process" non-attenders, nor to consider their actual decision-making. This clearly constitutes an important area of investigation, as the bodies involved are several and varied and their decisions likely to have significant effects on the pupils involved. The legislation governing their operation provides considerable scope for interpretation and the use of discretion by the groups may be based on assumptions about both education and deviance. Literature on education points to three views of the system: "traditional"; "liberal" and "controlling". Four associated responses to deviance are identifiable: "corrective"; "welfare-based"; "educational reform" and "laissez-faire". The aim of the study is thus to examine the agencies' decision-making in terms of their orientation in relation to such issues and to describe their practical operation. Chapter 1, therefore, identifies the possible responses to truancy and Chapter 2 the legislation and apparent remit of each agency. Chapter 3 outlines the method used and the findings are presented in Chapters 4-10, beginning with the schools and moving chronologically through the other agencies. Finally, the emergent patterns of decision-making and response are related back to the initial typology, identifying the nature and implications of "The Management of Truancy" in practice.