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We asked whether punishing parents was the best way to tackle truancy.

These are the responses we received:

"In general, I agree with penalties for parents, not least because many keep children out of school for company, or do not insist the child goes to school. In many cases, some kind of attendance centre for parents, where they can be worked with to see the importance of supporting their child's schooling, would do more good than fines or imprisonment. However, the short, sharp shock of imprisonment does work for the kind who believe that they are untouchable."

Jacqueline Castles

"The articles on truancy in 'Community Care' dated 23-29 January ( click here to read the articles) seem as is so frequently the case, once again let parents 'off the hook'. There has never been any doubt in law that it is the parent's responsibility to ensure that their child receives an education.

As someone with nearly 30 years experience of working in education social work services and education welfare services, I am frequently struck and dismayed at the reaction by the majority of parents that the cause of whatever difficulty besetting them is caused by 'someone else'. In other words the majority take no responsibility for dealing with let alone creating their own problems.

Unless children have dysfunctions that can be attributed to organic causes, then they learn their antisocial behaviour from somewhere even if it is unintentional. In the case of truancy, it is so easy for a child to learn from its parent that it can be OK to miss school sometimes. The parent may be over-sympathetic towards a child and allows them stay off school. When this is happening right from infants school, even if it is classified as 'authorised absence', the child is learning to devalue education.

I have even witnessed a parent say to a child that unless they behave they will be sent to school! In south east London where I work, there seems to often be a predominantly white, working class culture that has education too low in its priorities. The vast majority of serious truants from school are from low socio-economic backgrounds, and often where the work ethic is weak amongst the parents.

It is too easy to blame the 'system' and make excuses for these people. I see little new is the methods of dealing with truancy. Like most forms of intervention, there is usually a moderate rate of success regardless of the methodology. More concentration on the topic whilst welcome, over many years seems to have had no lasting impact amongst the most relevant culture groups.

New ideas are often the same old ones laced up with a new package. Those of us who have been in the business long enough see the same ideas coming around again. Perhaps for a change we could start looking at why pupils don't truant, and why some parents nearly always get their children into school. They are not always the middle classes, and parents who have benefited from a good education or comfortable life even if they are the majority.

Why then do a good number of children from low socio-economic backgrounds, still attend school regularly and complete their education with reasonable or good results? As these citizens are never part of anyone's client group, I wonder how much we know about them. Whoever they are, they have the ability to rise above life's difficulties. I suspect that we would find a high level of responsibility taking amongst these people, something they will have passed on to their children. In other words they have properly parented their children who have in turn learnt about citizenship, responsibility and commitment instead of constantly complaining that their difficulties need to be resolved by someone else.

By all means provide support where it is needed but let us not promote a culture where some parents never learn that they are the most influential part of their children's lives not the school or their social worker, to whom far too many are eager to pass their responsibilities!"

Peter Buteux

Senior Education Social Worker.

"Prosecuting parents is perhaps the least effective strategy for addressing 'truancy'.

a) 'Truancy' is a descriptor that only means what the person using it wishes it to mean - the term is not to be found in any act of Parliament, nor any statutory instrument. The confusion created by the politicised and meaningless categories of authorised and unauthorised absence has lead to
many political and moral false trails.

b) Young people whose absences are targeted (by a referral to an education welfare service) are often from social groups already familiar to social welfare professionals - where the parenting skills and the resources available within the family are already under social, financial and other pressures; and the possibility of prosecution merely places additional pressures on such a situation.

c) Solutions to 'truancy' cannot be achieved solely by laying the blame with parents  - effective, long-term solutions can only be achieved through system approaches - that  explore how the system of civic education in England generates absence; what it is about the content and processes of schooling that leads young people to vote with their feet.

Systems solutions are less convenient and comfortable than 'institutionalised intolerance' towards those for whom the system does not provide relevant and meaningful services and alternatives."

David Hoyle

"It always amazes me that parents are the ones that are required to take the brunt of punishment, as a single parent of four children who attend school (although two have since left..thank God!). Has it not occurred to schools/education that they may be the CAUSE of the truancy issues.

My children have moderate hearing loss. I could write a novel on the issues I have had to deal with, namely the teachers who have no understanding or experience in any form of disability, who call children names, humiliate, and criticise etc.

There are issues around bullying, and yes I'm aware the schools have anti-bullying policies! However, the schools do not put these into practice. If there is a major issue around trunacy then I feel that the education department should rethink how it trains its teachers, and education should be more flexible in its working in partnership with other agencies and parents. Education professionals are aware of the power they hold and they on many occasions abuse it."

Katrina Richardson
Student Social Worker (Mental Health)
Local Community Mental Health Team
Totton                                                                                                                                                       Southampton

"I agree that parents or guardians should be held in some way accountable for failure to make their children attend school. Incurring the full force of the law appears to be the only way that parents will adhere to the fundamental responsibilities they have towards their children's upbringing.

A huge part of the problem, as I'm sure everyone is aware, is the huge lack of control that certain parents have over their children. In turn, children become complacent and have little regard or respect for the adults who are attempting to bring them up. There is little doubt that the majority of children who are currently being "looked after" by local authorities are from one parent families. There is a great deal of inadequate parenting in our communities and a law must be brought in which is just as extreme as the one already commissioned, but which will be undoubtedly more effective. Parents whose children are continually truanting or who display unruly behavior, must be given the opportunity to change the way in which they deal with this problem. compulsory attendance at appropriate classes which will empower then to take more of a responsibility towards their children's futures is a necessity."

Ian McGookin

"May I share my experience as a parent within the broader framework of social work.

My daughter was 'a truant'. It was very difficult as a parent to get her to go to school. I did many things. I would accompany her every day, to the point where I was often late for work myself. We discussed  strategies for her coping with school that day and generally about the problems with her schooling. I knew her behaviour was not conducive with the standards of the school, but did what I could as a single parent, yet be at home when she needed me.

Her poor attendance was always discussed at parent evenings and I asked to be kept informed of when she did not attend. I requested a joint approach to solving the problem, however, was only ever contacted during the usual consultation evenings, where the same situation was discussed yet again. Of course, I was concerned, my daughter was unhappy, she was not fulfilling her potential, she was becoming labelled as a truant. When my daughter eventually diagnosed past abuse to a teacher (who did nothing immediately), I actually thought there might be some support from the school or some other department.
How wrong I was, there was no support available within either social services or the education department, even though both were now aware of the issues. Her head of year would not help anymore because she had not disclosed to him. The deputy head was fantastic though, and one other teacher. Only two members of staff within the whole school cared enough to see further than my
daughters 'attitude'.

They welcomed her in class, even if she had not been in for a while, were prepared to negotiate, sensitively with her about GCSEs and study generally. She was interested in other subjects, and being a bright girl wanted to achieve. I recall one day, that made my heart go out to her when she tried to go into a maths class and was told by the teacher, 'Oh, you have graced us with your presence have you?? (I heard this from others not immediately from my daughter, who was understandably upset). My daughter with the help of the attitude of teachers like this one, developed a severe school phobia. She also admitted to having struggled for some time due to being bullied by older girls who used to spit on her and call her a 'slag' (remember the abuse?).

Following further abortive attempts to negotiate with the school, the preference was to suspend her (I fought this option - she needed to strive for normality, and there was nothing else if she did not attend school, no other education options I was told).

So, I have come to the point about parent collusion with truancy. I actually wrote my daughter letters. I supported her on those days when she walked out of school because she could not cope, on those days when she looked so ill after a sleepless night, but became well again after 9am, on those days she looked like she was ready to fight the world and all its demons, on those days when she just cried. Should I be punished for the crime committed by a young man to my daughter? Should I be punished for the abuse from the older girls, probably brought on by my daughters 'victim' behaviour following the attack? Should I be punished for not trying hard enough? Should I be punished because apart from two others, there was no-one else for her? Should I be punished for loving my daughter?

It makes me angry both as a parent and as a social worker that there is a culture of blame. Who shall be blamed for truants? This time it is the parents. Why not allow more workers to help intervene with those young people who do not attend school, rather than make scapegoats of the parents?

Punishing parents is not the answer, there is a need to look at the broader picture."

Anonymous