Playing truant : a preliminary study

Abstract

This study is aimed at identifying the reasons why certain pupils somehow or another do not attend school as regularly as they should do. Another important aspect addressed in this study is the understanding of how these pupils that play truant manage to do so. Furthermore this study also looks at the possible consequences of truancy on both the individual and societal level. To investigate these phenomena I chose two Government boys' secondary schools as my target population. In these schools I conducted focus groups of 10 students per group. The discussions were carried out in conjunction with the respective P.S.D. (personal and social development) teachers so as to keep the procedure as feasible as possible. Related ethical issues were also addressed in the research process. The most common reasons for students to start truanting were school related. The results indicated that contrary to popular belief students that skip school are not necessarily involved in illicit and/or deviant behaviour other then the act of not going to school in itself. On the contrary pupils tend to spend their time when away from school at home doing something they enjoy more. Interestingly those pupils that play truant do so with their parents' approval or are actually asked to stay at home by their parents. Recommendations on how the respective authorities may address this vital issue are also forwarded.