ABSTRACT
Mitching it. Wagging it. Dogging it. Twagging it. If proof were needed that truancy is ingrained in our culture, look no further than the range of slang phrases used to describe it. Children have been bunking off and skipping lessons since the first schools were established. But the fight against truancy has never had a higher profile: sweeps by police and welfare officers, hi-tech registration systems, prison sentences and increased fines to parents of persistent non-attenders. But despite all these measures, more than eight million schooldays are lost to truancy annually, with a hardcore 2 per cent of pupils missing more than five weeks every year. And there’s little sign of that figure falling.
