Fines 'failing to tackle truancy'

In some areas truants are chased up at home

Penalty notices or on-the-spot fines for parents whose children play truant do not work, research has suggested.

A study by an education welfare officer presented at Cambridge University finds no link between a council's use of fines and levels of attendance.

It rejects the idea that irresponsible parents are to blame for truancy, which it says underlies the penalty policy.

The government commented that penalty notices give parents a sharp reminder of their responsibilities".

The report's author is Ming Zhang, principal education welfare officer at the Kingston upon Thames local education authority, who said he was surprised at the findings.

Improvement

"In this three years' study, I monitored the use of truancy-related penalty notices, as well as other punitive measures including jailing and fining truants' parents.

"I have found no evidence to suggest that those punitive measures have any long-term impacts on school attendance levels, although there are individual cases in which the legal process does give some parents a shock and achieve short-term improvement in attendance."

Using data gathered from 150 local education authorities in England, the study found no significant statistical link between the use of penalty notices and primary and secondary school attendance rates.

The trend under Labour's various efforts to crack the problem

The report - School absenteeism and the implementation of truancy-related penalty notices - argues that truancy should be understood as a "complex social and historical issue".

It says: "Irresponsible parents may not be the main cause of children's absence from schools.

"Poor parenting itself is very often a symptom of the circle of poverty and disadvantage that is difficult to break.

Empowering

"Instead of being an initial cause of children's failure in education, poor parenting may in turn reinforce the circle of poverty and disadvantage which are the main hindrances to poor children's access to education."

The report calls for school absenteeism to be addressed through "a long-term effort of empowering the parents", especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "Recent figures show that unauthorised absence in secondary schools fell to 1.20% in the last academic year compared with 1.23% in the previous academic year.

"Between 22 April 2006 and 1 September 2006, 4,861 penalty notices were issued, to give parents a sharp reminder of their responsibilities, and over 3,200 parenting contracts were agreed with parents, to support them in tackling their child's absenteeism."