The problem of school truancy

Опубликовано Филичкина Елена Анатольевна вкл 27.09.2019 - 12:30

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Берсенева Елена

Данный доклад освещает проблему прогулов в школе, причины, наказания, пути решения проблемы

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Lyceum Student Scientific Society

English Language Section

Be cool – stay at school: the problem of truancy

Bersenyova Elena

Form 7 G

Municipal Educational Establishment

“Lyceum № 6 named after I.Z. Shuklin”

Guided by: Filichkina E.A.

Gorno-Altaisk

Contents.

1. Introduction 3

2. What is truancy? 4

3. Truancy in the UK 5-7

4. Truancy in Russian schools 8

5. Truancy in Lyceum №6 9-10

6. Conclusion 11

7. Literature list 12

Introduction.

Have you ever played truant? Have you ever cut classes? Truancy is a problem sweeping the entire world. I think the problem is actual nowadays as every day millions of students play truant and miss their classes.

So the subject of my study is truancy in British and Russian schools. I have three goals in mind writing this paper:

To explain what truancy is;
To study the history and origin of the word truancy;
To research the problem of truancy in schools.

Such methods of researching as analysis of data, literature analysis, comparison, generalization and opinion poll were used.

What is truancy? Why do students play truant? How does truancy affect schools and education? How can we prevent truancy? These are the questions we are to answer in the end of the report.

What is truancy?

a) Definition.

Truant (noun)

1. a lazy , idle person.

2. a pupil who stays away from school without permission.

3. a person who neglects his or her work or duties.

To be or play truant- stay away from school, be absent.

Truancy is unapproved absence from a particular class or the entire school day. These absences are against the law and have long lasting consequences.

b) The origin of the word “truant”.

The word first appeared in use in the 13th century. A truant was originally a “beggar” or “vagrant.” The word was borrowed from Old French “truand” meaning a vagabond

Since the 16th century the word has had the particular meaning of one who absents himself from school without permission.

Truancy in the UK.

Truancy is a serious problem in many countries. Latest Government figures reveal truancy is at record high in the UK.

Government figures released in 2014 reveal that unauthorized absence in England’s schools has reached a record high, rising from 1.01 per cent in 2011- 2012 to 1.05 per cent in 2013-2014.The statistics report on absence in primary, secondary and special schools, city technology colleges and academies during the 2013/2014 school year.

It means that more than a million children a year play truant from school. (66.000 pupils are playing truant every day).

Why do students play truant?

Truancy is an educational, social and law enforcement problem. Truancy is a symptom: it is a result of one or more factors in a child’s life which prevent regular school attendance .Students play truant for a variety of reasons. Common causes of truancy in the UK include:

Child

poor self-concept, low self- esteem,
low academics, particularly behind in reading and Maths,
socially isolated,
childhood depression,
language barriers,
poor health,
to escape bulling at school,
fear of school, teachers and administrators,
because the truant has no interest in school,
exclusions,
taking holidays,
running errands,
teenage pregnancy or parenting.

Family.

parents lack appreciation for value of education,
financial difficulties,
ineffective parenting,
familial instability,
alcoholic parent.

School.

uninteresting and irrelevant curriculum,
poor pupil- teacher relationships,
high student/ teacher ratio,
lack of parents-school communication.

Community.

lack of support for school,
negative peer influences,
criminal activity.

The consequences of truancy.

Those students who do not attend school regularly are often taking the first step toward a lifetime of problems. Most experts believe that truancy is a powerful and accurate predictor of involvement in crime and violence. Boys and girls are equally likely to be truant. The average age of truant students is 15 years old, but some children begin skipping school as young as 10. Skipping school is a cry for help and a signal that the child is in trouble. Children who are habitual truants are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviors such as gang membership, alcohol use, drug use, high –risk sexual behavior, cigarette smoking, suicidal behaviors, theft and vandalism. Truant girls are more likely to become pregnant and drop out of school. Most habitual truants eventually enter the juvenile court system.

As adults, habitual truants have more employment and marital problems and are jailed far more often than non-truants. Truancy is a gateway to serious violent and nonviolent crime.

So, truancy brings consequences for the students, his or her peers, and his or her family.

Combating Truancy.

Cutting truancy is one of the government’s education pledges. A number of initiatives have been introduced to tackle the problem including electronic registration and regular sweeps of town centres by police and education welfare staff.

Electronic registration systems are available with a choice of biometric, card or PIN technologies and have the capability to electronically record the presence, absence and lateness of students and staff in real-time. Electronic registration solutions encourage students to take responsibility and accountability for their own attendance. Once registered in the system , students simply record their attendance using their fingertip, card or a PIN on a specially designed unit.

Most local education authorities employ education welfare officers (EWOs), sometimes called education social workers, to monitor attendance and help parents fulfill their responsibilities under the law. Welfare officers often visit families whose children fail to attend school regularly. These visits are the start of a process which may , in the worst cases, end with the family being taken to court.

Truancy in Russian schools.

Officially, truancy is not a problem in Russia. We have no the governments’ reports on this problem. However, no official figures are available to show how many students play truant in our country every year.

In Soviet times the school system was extremely strict. It was in everyone’s interests to insure pupils turned up for classes. It helped that teachers were widely respected, and often feared. But today , schools are as divided as Russian society. In most schools teachers demand an official note to explain any absence, or call parents if a child fails to show-up. But in poorer and rural areas teenage truancy in particular is a growing concern .The problem there is compounded by the rise in “social orphans” and alcoholism.

Homelessness and neglect of children is a threat to Russia’s future, the threat to its national security. In our country the number of street children ranges from 2 to 5 million. This could cause serious political and social consequences .It is no accident in 2008 declared the Year of the Family, in 2009 declared the Year of the Youth and in 2010 declared the Year of the Teacher. Today, the government pays great attention to the problems of school. The important step towards solutions problems Neglect and Homelessness is prevention truancy lessons. In accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation “On Education”, the Federal law “On basics of prevention of child neglect and juvenile crime”, teachers identify children who are not attending or systematically missing school., take measures for their education, work with their parents. But it is not enough to prevent children from playing truant.

Truancy in Lyceum №6.

How bad is the school truancy problem in our lyceum? We carried out a survey of students’ attitudes to the problem of truancy. Students from 7-11 classes were asked the following questions:

1. What do you think about truancy? Is it good or bad?

2. How often do you play truant?

3. Why do you play truant? Do your parents know about it?

4. What can we do to prevent from playing truant?

Key findings are as follows:

1. Every class that we asked has students who skipped lessons.

2. Girls play truant more than boys.

3. 15% of students think that truancy hasn’t led to more serious problems.

“I think it’s a normal part of a student’s life.”

“It’s something every kid has to try once.”

“Truancy is OK, nothing serious, just for fun.”

“Oh, it’s so exciting.”

85% think truancy is bad.

“Truancy is bad and student can’t do it because this is very bad for us and make our parents be disappointed.”

“I’ve never done things like this.”

4. 40 % of the students never skip school.

5. 56 % of the students miss school from time to time ,each 11 student respondents do not go for some lessons. Usually these are subjects they find difficult or boring or where they clash with the teacher.

6. Research found that 44% of truanting pupils believe their parents knew they were absent.

A study lists the top reasons given by students.

- Hard to wake up to the first lessons.

- Too tired during the day and therefore cannot go on past lessons.

- Not ready for the test or the lesson.

- Do not like the subject.

- Boredom.

- There are more important, urgent matters than the school.

- Do not like the teacher.

- Only a reluctance to go to school.

- Laziness.

- Problems with family.

- Problems with peers.

- Bad relationships with teachers.

So, there are as many causes of truancy as there are students. Most students think that teachers should inform parents about their children’s truancy. We use of new technology in our lyceum (Net-school system) and Electronic Diary helps to combat truancy.

Conclusion.

Reality shows that there are many reasons why pupils play truant and therefore there needs to be many remedies. But there is one argument which says that truancy has, and will, always be a fact of life. In England children have stayed away ever since the start of compulsory education in the 19th century. In the early 1300s only 72 % of registered children attended regularly. Sometimes, as with Huckleberry Finn, children almost want to applaud the spirit and sense of adventure and freedom it represents.

Spring comes. Are you going to play truant?