“..those who are truant are at significant risk for developing additional difficulties—poor academic performance, delinquency, school dropout, employment problems, and earlier and increased substance use and abuse, among others ” (Mallett, 2016, p.337).
Let me write an acrostic poem about the word Truancy to help us all understand what truancy means?
Teachers not caring,
Rebel students that do not confine to rules or regulations of school,
Underestimated kids being dismissed, marginalised and thus eventuating to low expectations of themselves
Abundance in numbers particularly in our Maori and Pasifika students
Not my problem? Then who’s problem? A strong view shared by some teachers.
Come on guys and gals open your eyes if we are to become teachers then it is our problem…
You make a difference not solely you, parents, teachers, school management, we can all make a difference by paying attention, whats being done for our at risk students?
Some teachers see truancy as reducing the teaching numbers in their class, lucrative isn’t it?
Truancy can come down to a number of factors mainly seen in New Zealand schools factors such as poverty, teacher/student relationships and the classroom dynamic – is the class safe, content interesting and does the classroom motivate an exciting learning environment. Studies have shown in Pasifika students our schools should model inclusion amongst our Maori and Pasifika parents inorder for students to succeed, a collaborative open relationship helps with truancy. Studies by Baleinakorodawa, Nakhid and Poata-Smith, have shown that truancy largely rests on schools and teachers being able to create a safe environment for families and students (2009).
Truancy among our priority learners are among the highest, Pasifika and Maori students are more likely to be truant than those that are of Pakeha descent. Some teachers only pay attention to students that want to learn. I have experienced this in Practicum, its a sad reality in our lower decile schools in New Zealand.
I have seen though some programs that are working with whanau to encourage a positive school environment for students and also professional development to encourage teachers to teach content that is exciting and allows students to be active and life long learners.
Lets all rally together and break the cycle of truancy, if students dont attend class or wag school they cannot then succeed in our schools!
Baleinakorodawa, L., Nakhid, C., & Poata-Smith, E. (2009). Causes of truancy from mainstream education for a group of Pasifika students enrolled in alternative education : a thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Sciences, 2009. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat05020a&AN=aut.b11605819&site=eds-live
Mallett, C. (2016). Truancy: It’s Not About Skipping School. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 33(4), 337–347. https://doi-org.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/10.1007/s10560-015-0433-1
Diary of the beginner teacher... 
Hi Beginner Teacher,
Thank you for this blog, and for exploring such a relevant topic. I have recently completed a practicum at a decile 1 school in South Auckland, and have been reflecting a lot on this issue of truancy – why it happens, and how we can help to reduce it in our role as classroom teachers.
The issue of truancy is very complex, but it’s also very important. We know from research done by those such as Mallett (2016, p. 337) that children who have truancy issues can suffer from the major impact that this has on their school life, and beyond. Last year, more than 280,000 New Zealand learners were regularly absent from school, with this number continuing to rise (Redmond, 2018). We know as teachers, that regular attendance is important, and will significantly improve outcomes for learners. To that end, it’s really important that we do our part in helping learners to attend school regularly.
Of course, sometimes there are circumstances outside the teacher’s control. Interestingly, a parent last year was prosecuted in New Zealand for the role she played in her child’s chronic absenteeism (Redmond, 2018). Having spoken to the learners who were absent during my practicum, it became clear that much of the truancy at my school was tied up with socioeconomic factors. Many reasons were cited for absence including not getting any sleep due to overcrowded conditions at home, needing to stay home to care for sick family members, helping younger siblings get ready for school, not having anything to bring for lunch, and not having any petrol, or shoes, for getting to school. Some of the seniors that I spoke to, had regular absences to attend employment, which helped to sustain their household financially. In this sense, truancy is merely a symptom of larger issues, and is often a consequence of the barriers that are in place for many people.
While your acrostic poem starts with “teachers not caring”, I don’t necessarily think that’s the case. The educators that I worked with did not celebrate smaller class sizes, but rather did everything they could to encourage young people to attend school, and were quick to make contact with home if a learner was absent. They created a safe, welcoming environment that learners would want to be in, and did what they could to break down the barriers that prevent students from attending school. I think this is what we need to focus on as teachers – creating a space that students want to walk into everyday, and reducing the barriers to them getting there.
Taryn
References
Gerritsent, J. (2018). Principals dubious about student truancy report. Radio New Zealand. Accessed online: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/367656/principals-dubious-about-student-truancy-report
Mallett, C. (2016). Truancy: It’s Not About Skipping School. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 33(4), 337–347. https://doi-org.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/10.1007/s10560-015-0433-1
Redmond, A. (2018). Rare truancy prosecution a case of ‘last resort’. Stuff. Accessed online: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/105363770/rare-truancy-prosecution-a-case-of-last-resort
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This is such a key topic you have spoken about Anna! The small poem you have written somewhat gives a true outline on truancy in schools.
The one statement “teachers not caring” you have started in your poem in a way conflicts with my point. As Taryn has also stated, teachers are not necessarily the case. While teachers play a huge role in student’s lives in terms of keeping them engaged in class, I believe it’s also reflected upon how the student’s attitude towards their education is. There’s always the odd occasion where some teachers just don’t care about those students who aren’t interested in coming to class in the first place, so they just get tossed aside. As you have clearly stated yourself that in lower decile schools, teachers only pay attention to those students who are wanting to learn, as opposed to trying to engage those students who are lacking behind.
Talking about truancy involved a lot of factors behind why students are not motivated to go to school. I have also completed my practicum at Papakura High School, that is known to be a decile 1. There were several experiences where students came to my class with a late slip that had excuses like, “woke up too late”, “walked too slow”, or “didn’t have a ride to school”. I could honestly go on all day with the ridiculous amount of excuses I have come across.
In a Stuff article by Flahive (2016), he’s clearly spoken about how family’s holidays have started to make up 10% of school truancies. Truancy definitely doesn’t come from the students themselves, but what they’re raised to believe. The government and schools definitely take some sort of action when truancy is starting to become an issue in schools. By law it’s stated that children between the ages 6-16 are supposed to be enrolled in school and attend on a regular basis. Caregivers and parents can be prosecuted and fined with $1000. The build-up of this law is that parents can be fined up to $15 per day that is missed at school and with a maximum of $150 for their first offence (Flahive, 2016). Given the circumstances in a lot of schools, do you think this law enforcement is lacking? What more can we do to keep these students engaged?
Reference
Flahive, B. (2016). Family holidays make up 10% of school truancy. Retrieved from https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/82776363/family-holidays-make-up-10-of-school-truancy?rm=m
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Mate, I feel this, but it’s such a minefield. For example, truancy is a huge problem for one of my practicum schools, to the point where it was not unusual to have students arriving to class at various points throughout the lesson. Their arrival to school would be processed through the front office, so when they entered the classroom they would hand me a slip of paper to prove they had been checked in (and therefore the role updated). It would often be the same students who would regularly arrive late or not show up at all.
What’s a teacher to do? It’s disruptive enough to have students arriving at all points during a lesson, needing resources and explanations that I’m more than happy to give. But I am loathe to pause the class in order to grill or berate them, which would take even more time away from everyone’s learning. And as you so rightly say, ensuring the class is safe, motivating and interesting should encourage attendance more than anything else. However, for many students, it doesn’t.
There are all kinds of reasons students are truant, many of them beyond the students control. Perhaps their train or bus was cancelled or delayed. Perhaps Mum or Dad couldn’t drop them at the station. Perhaps they don’t have enough money for the train, perhaps they have to babysit their younger siblings. There are so many things that can happen between getting out of bed and arriving at school that could prevent that arrival.
Two final thoughts: first, care and concern should always come before annoyance. Teachers should endeavour to find out the reasons behind chronic lateness and absence before condemning the young person, for whom these things are often beyond their control. Second, this situation only emphasises the importance of teacher-whānau communication. Perhaps the student isn’t getting enough sleep, between travel time, chores and homework. Perhaps their family don’t realise they are struggling, or even that they are not making it to school each day.
Like so many things in this world, and especially in education, strengthening communication is the first step in breaking the cycle of truancy.
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Hi Anna, me again. my last comment was all based on what I did as a recidivist truant student and how the focus on what I could’ve done to be a better student. This statement is still true, I should have made more of an effort to get to classes and I have pointed out the pitfalls and long-term effects of truancy regarding the feeling of always catching up.
After re-reading this post I instantly gravitated towards your poem, specifically:
“You make a difference not solely you, parents, teachers, school management, we can all make a difference by paying attention, whats being done for our at risk students?”.
This sentence drew out some thoughts that went through my mind as a constant truant. A positive relationship has to exist between the teacher, whanau and school, this was something I took advantage of during my time at school. I knew that there was hardly relationship between my parents and my school, so I was able to play the two parties against each other (I know… shocking).
I also thought back to when I was working at a low decile school in Auckland and the prevalence of truancy seemed normal. So, I thought about, why the school doesn’t just exclude these students if they are over 16 or transition them to a secondary tertiary provider if they are under 16 years of age. Then it hit me, some decile one schools are classified as last resort schools, so it is in the school’s interest to keep and try and help these recidivist students at a major cost to the rest of the school’s systems. Other low decile schools experience an exodus of students that attend out of zone schools via scholarships or other arrangements with high decile schools. I see this every day, busloads of students from within the community that travel out of zone for schooling. So, in order to stay operational and get the appropriate funding, low decile schools have to keep up the number of students that are enrolled, which likely includes recidivist truant students. this is because other. This is an ongoing issue, how do I, we tackle this in our classroom when it seems to be a systematic problem. The term, control the controllable come to mind, a positive relationship between student and teacher is imperative to help combat truancy as stated by Baleinakorodawa (2009).
Baleinakorodawa, L. (2009). Causes of truancy from mainstream education for a group of Pasifika students enrolled in alternative education. Auckland University of Technology.
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