Research Report: Truancy and Wellbeing Among Secondary School Pupils in England

Authors Gaynor Atwood and Paul Croll

Published by Educational Studies, December 2014

Summary

In an earlier study published in 2006, the authors of this report found substantial amounts of government spending to reduce truancy failed to result in a drop in rates of unauthorised absence.

The authors wanted to extend their analysis to look at pupils' wellbeing and truancy. They analysed data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, which began in 2004 when the young people were 13 and 14. The original sample was 21,000 young people and their parents, and 8,682 young people remained in the sample after seven years. Atwood and Croll used data from the second interview, when the young people were 14 and 15, and the seventh, when they were 20 and 21.

Between a fifth and a quarter of young people in year 10 said they had truanted, with boys and girls showing similar levels of truancy. However, two-thirds of truants said their truancy was limited to an odd day or lesson, and another fifth said it was limited to a particular lesson. Around 10 per cent of the truants showed more serious absence, with 7.3 per cent reporting being absent for several days at a time and 4.3 per cent reporting they truanted for weeks at a time.

Half of those truanting said their behaviour was caused by a specific dislike of some aspect of teachers, school or lessons. A further 20.2 per cent said they truanted because they were bored, and one in 20 blamed bullying.

The researchers found truancy was associated with less favourable outcomes in later life. Unsurprisingly, the strongest association was with educational achievement - pupils with high levels of truancy were four times more likely than their peers to fail to achieve a single GCSE at C grade, while those with low levels of truancy were twice as likely to fail to achieve a single C.

Truancy was also associated with poorer outcomes when it came to life satisfaction. At the age of 20, low-level truants were twice as likely to say they were very or fairly dissatisfied with life than those who had not truanted, and high level truants were more than twice as likely to be very or fairly dissatisfied. Low-level truants were twice as likely to be unemployed at age 20 and high-level truants four times as likely.

The researchers compared outcomes for truants from disadvantaged and more advantaged backgrounds. They found high-level truants from all backgrounds have worse outcomes than low-level truants, who in turn have worse outcomes than those who do not truant at all. High-level truants from the most advantaged backgrounds were twice as likely as non-truants from the most disadvantaged groups to have no good GCSEs, suggesting socio-economic advantages cannot compensate for serious truancy levels with regard to exam results. However, occasional truants from advantaged backgrounds had better outcomes than non-truants from all other social groups.

The researchers found wellbeing, or lack of it, was evenly spread across attainment levels and socio-economic backgrounds, but girls were more likely to report feelings of distress and inability to cope than boys. Wellbeing was strongly linked to truanting. Non-truants had the lowest level of negative responses to questions about their wellbeing, and those with high levels of truancy had more than twice the levels of negative response than non-truants. Just under a third of male high-level truants and just over a quarter of female high-level truants had no wellbeing issues flagged by the questionnaire. Wellbeing issues were at their highest for the high-level truants, but even low levels of truancy were associated with lower levels of wellbeing.

Implications for practice

Most truants accept it is important for them to do well at school and most are not negative about their teachers. But the most common reason given for truancy was dislike of certain aspects of school. This suggests school-based interventions to reduce truancy could be effective, say the report authors. Truancy needs to be seen in the context of the many difficulties facing young people and as part of wider issues of social adjustment.

Further reading

Managing School Attendance, Ken Reid, Routledge, July 2013. A look at the causes of truancy and successful interventions

Truancy in Secondary School Pupils: Prevalence, Trajectories and Pupil Perspectives, Gaynor Atwood and Paul Croll, Research Papers in Education, 2006. An earlier study by the authors of this report using the British Household Panel Survey to investigate factors contributing to truancy

Improving School Attendance in England, National Audit Office, 2005. Suggestions for improving attendance include the introduction of electronic monitoring systems in secondary schools