Friday is most popular for playing ‘hookey’

Press, 14 September 1976, Page 21

Friday is most popular for playing ‘hookey’

One per cent —or about 200 children — play truant from Christchurch schools at least on one day a week. School principals, in the main, do not see the problem as alarming, but the link between truancy and crime concerns the police. A staff reporter investigates . . .

Most children play truant at some stage of their school days. However. a recent survey indicates that Christchurch schools have less of a problem compared with other parts of the country. The Education Department in Christchurch has investigated the incidence of truancy at 27 secondary schools. It found that, at the worst, 200 children — or. about one per cent of the total roll — can be expected to play truant on Fridays. A similar survey conducted at 73 Auckland secondary schools earlier this year showed that at least I.S per cent of the roll — or 1000 pupils — will probably be absent without a legal reason the same day. In fact, the Christchurch figure can be regarded as an overestimate, according to the department’s district senior inspector of post-primary schools (Mr M. R. Tunnicliffe). The surveys in both areas seem to show that the rate of truancy drops on other days of the week. In Auckland, the incidence fell to 12 per cent of the roll on a Wednesday, and in Christchurch, a similar decline, to 0.75 per cent, was noted during midweek. Many Auckland principals noted that irregular attendance was more prevalent among Maori and Polynesian pupils. The worst areas were parts of South Auckland, such as Otara. and the .central city schools. Although five Christchurch secondary schools had no instances of unexplained absence, several others had rates as high as five or six per cent of the total roll. In Auckland, the problem was more prevalent at primary level than at sec-

ondary. Of 239 primary and intermediate schools surveyed 2.2 per cent — or 2414 pupils — were missing on the Friday in question. No statistics are available for Christchurch primary and intermediate schools, but it is believed that truancy is not. as significant in these as at the secondary level. Of 442 Auckland primary' school-children described as “regularly absent without reasonable excuse,” about a quarter were known to have been involved in unlawful activity while playing truant, and about threequarters were estimated to be “condoned absences” — absent with their parents’ knowledge. According to the Education Department’s Canterbury Regional Superintendent (Mr R. V. Roy), the greater number of truants in Auckland is not solely due to the difference in population. At the end of last year there were estimated to be about threequarters of a million people in the urban Auckland area, compared with 300,000 in urban Christchurch. “Auckland has problems that we have either overcome or have not encountered,” Mr Roy says. Social problems accelerate with urban growth. It is a feature of big cities that parents often become less interested in what their offspring are doing. Auckland, too has a large concentration of Polynesian groups that do not exist here. Canterbury schools have well established traditions and patterns of behaviour. The educational climate is good: there has been a stable staffing situation for many years. At times of teacher shortages in other parts of the country.

Christchurch has suffered comparatively little in this respect. The principal of a Christchurch secondary school agreed with Mr Roy. In Auckland, there are strong pressures on a Polynesian population which is striving to adjust, he says. They have the problem of adapting to a European-based culture, changing from their own to one diametrically opposed. Possibly, less emphasis is placed by such parents on the importance of education. Not enough concessions are made to adapt the existing system to the capacity of such groups, says an Education Department visiting teacher (Mr A. J. Winicott). Visiting teachers liaise between home and school in cases where children have problems related to education. “The system has good points, but not the adaptability to help such people fit in.” In Auckland, there is a “city within a city,” of people who are not used to the New Zealand way of life. A child unable to cope with the language at school returns home to parents, relatives, and neighbours equally unable to cope. Similarly, there are large areas of housing devoted exclusively to persons of one incomebracket. Few Christchurch schools do not have pupils from a wide cross-section of society. The general manager of the Canterbury Education Board (Mr D. Wilson),

thinks that truancy can never be cured completely. “There have always been school attendance problems, and always will be.” Although the board is responsible only for children between 6 ~ and 15 — after that age they are not legally truants — Mr Wilson says that absenteeism from school drops dramatically in the sixth and seventh forms. “The kind of child who plays truant because he is not interested in school will leave as soon as he is able to,” Mr Wilson says. He does not consider that lowering the school leaving age would diminish the problem. No specific area or school in Christchurch has a worse rate of truancy than others, Mr Wilson says. Most schools have children of mixed social background, and the extremes that exist in other cities are not present. “We don’t have areas like Porirua or Otara.” However, smaller country schools appear to have less of a problem than their urban counterparts. In the Canterbury Education Board area there are about 32,500 children at secondary schools, and 64,500 at primary and intermediate schools. Of the 80 to 100 cases of truancy reported to the board annually, up to a dozen successful prosecutions are made, according to its attendance officer (Mr J. Stalker). However, some absenteeisms are not reported by principals — either because they are for

only a short period, or because the principals prefer to deal with the cases themselves. When a complaint is first made to the board, parents are notified and told of the legal implications. In 90 per cent of the cases the problem is rectified as soon as parents are aware of it, Mr Stalker says. However, if the problem recurs either he or a visiting teacher will talk to the parents and the child. If, after a thorough investigation, it is decided parents are condoning truancy, the board will prosecute. A 1974 amendment to the Education Act says that if a child required by the Act fails to attend school, the parents of the child commit an offence, and are liable. . .to a fine not exceeding $4 for every day on which the child fails to attend.” It may not exceed $4O for a first offence, and $lOO for a second or subsequent offence. Exceptions to the compulsory attendance requirement may be made in cases of “sickness, danger of infection, infirmity, severe stress of weather, sudden or serious illness of a parent, or other sufficient cause.” There appear to be several factors which may help cause children to play truant. Parental views and general family environment, play an important part in determining a child’s attitude to school. Some parents re-

veal a lack of concern or interest in their children's progress at school, do not ensure that their children are attending school, or actually condone truancy.

Others expect too high a level of achievement, which creates a feeling of inadequacy or rebellion against the school system. Some parents are unable to provide for basic necessities such as lunches and clean clothes, or cannot finance school trips.

Schools have been blamed for not recognising factors conducive to truancy. Some of these factors include: too much stress on academic achievement, and insufficient flexibility to cater for the needs of a particular ethnic group. Personality clashes between teacher and pupil, children with learning problems who feel themselves left behind and unwanted, and old-fashioned or unrealistic forms of discipline may also play a part in alienating a child. A pupil’s relationship with his peer groups is recognised as another potential cause. Children who have left school and persistent truants sometimes encourage others to absent themselves. Bravado, being bullied, or having a disability or deformity may contribute.

Some children experience a trauma when moving from primary to secondary level; others suffer from a mother-fix-ation, fearing that she might not be there when they return from school.