Express & Star comment: Attending school is still critical
Bunking off school is nothing new.
But perhaps the importance of keeping pupils in school is greater than ever in an era in which schools are judged by various tables, criteria, and statistics.
And some of those latest statistics are now out. They paint a picture in which, at schools across the Black Country and Staffordshire, a small but significant percentage of pupils are missing their lessons.
Break down the figures further, and of those absences, there is an element of unauthorised absences – yes, bunking off, but also absences in which the parents are complicit by taking their child out of school to go on holiday.
In both the Black Country and Staffordshire, the figure for those persistently absent from secondary school is remarkably similar, at 14 and 13 per cent respectively.
That is quite a big learning deficit.
Yes, we should strive to be yet better, and strive too for total attendance, but to adapt a phrase which has been coined in another context, we should not disparage the good because we have not achieved the perfect.
Rebellion is part of the state of being a teenager and if there are any state secondary schools with a consistent 100 per cent attendance record you would have to wonder whether the pupils are being locked in.
Before the school leaving age was raised, in years many of our older readers will remember, a lot of 15 and 16 year olds will have had a nil attendance record because they were already in the world of work. These days youngsters have no choice but to be in school, and teachers are teaching in classes in which some of their charges see no value in being there.
With those who play truant, the worry is not purely educational – and realistically, if they have bunked off because they don’t like school they are not likely to be the most receptive learners in class – but also that nobody knows where they are, what they are doing, and whether they are in a safe environment.
These attendance figures are a black mark with the added comment of: “Could do better.”
Nevertheless, we should not get carried away. There is a case for saying that more of our young people are receiving a better education now than at any point in our history.
