ABSTRACT
By 1998, the Labour Government had decided that the truancy phenomenon had become so serious that they asked 100 pupils who regularly skip school to join specialist panels that would advise the Prime Minister on how to tackle truancy. This initiative was supported by both Unison and the National Association of Social Workers. The panels met in London, Scotland and the north-west of England. Their ideas were sent to the Government’s Social Exclusion Unit. The Unison view expressed at the time was:
It is the first time kids have had a chance to talk about this as a group. They say school is boring and frustrating. There is peer pressure to skip school. Most of them feel they can’t go back to school because they will get told off. It doesn’t seem to be a very healthy way of dealing with the problem. We have to look at wider things, at schools’ attitudes, at parents’ attitudes-many parents encourage it-and at the social and economic reasons. Many of these kids want an education but not this one. A lot of them are really bright kids. One million kids daily can’t be wrong. There is something wrong with our social and educational system and we need to take a fresh look at it.
