Truancy was regarded considerably more seriously than ordinary classroom misbehaviour.
The reason is obvious.
The pupil had deliberately removed himself from the school’s supervision.
Missing a Lesson
Not every case involved disappearing for an entire day.
One respondent, aged about twelve in 1969–70, deliberately avoided a mathematics lesson.
He was eventually discovered and the matter reached the head of mathematics.
The punishment was followed by consequences at home.
Leaving School
More serious was the 1958 case of a fourteen-year-old who left school with companions.
While away they became involved in theft from a shop.
The authorities contacted the schools.
Here truancy had created the circumstances in which further misconduct occurred.
Why Schools Treated It Seriously
Attendance lay at the foundation of education.
A teacher could do little with a pupil who deliberately avoided lessons.
Truancy also created a problem of responsibility.
During school hours, parents expected the school to know where a child was.
A missing pupil therefore presented more than an academic problem.
Detection
The fear of being caught was part of the deterrent.
A pupil avoiding one lesson might hope to return unnoticed.
But schools contained teachers, caretakers and other pupils.
Absence registers could reveal that somebody was missing.
Home Consequences
Truancy was also among the offences most likely to interest parents.
The pupil might therefore face consequences both at school and at home.
This multiplication of authority could make the offence particularly memorable.
A Different Level of Misconduct
The survey consequently supports the view that truancy generally occupied a higher disciplinary level than talking, running or incomplete homework.
It was deliberate avoidance of the school itself.
For that reason it was likely to involve senior staff.
