In many countries, truancy * is a worrying problem for both parents and educators. What are the causes of truancy, and what may be the effects on the child and the wider community? (* truancy = the situation when a child pretends to go to school but in fact goes somewhere else, for example to play unsupervised. The verb is ‘to play truant from school.’)

Truancy is an activity which some children regard as amusing or even exciting, but which can have serious impacts on their future and on society as a whole. I can identify two main causes, and three broad effects, which we will describe now. Perhaps the main cause is a sense of boredom or frustration with

school

Suggestion

the school

itself,

for instance

with the content, pace or organisation of the lessons.

This

can be seen in the way that pupils often avoid certain

lessons but

Accept comma addition

lessons, but

not others, suggesting that specific subjects or teachers are the personal grievance. Another factor may frequently be peer pressure, meaning that pupils feel obliged to play truant because some of their peers or friends are doing

this

. We can see that the child’s desire to be popular among a peer group may be higher than the motivation to study and progress. Turning to possible effects, the tendency to underperform academically is probably the most serious impact on a pupil’s life, leading to poor exam results and weak career progression in later life. Another effect may be the temptation to participate in petty crime or antisocial behaviour while the child is unsupervised, potentially opening a pathway into more serious crimes later on.

Forexample

Suggestion

For example

, a child who commits vandalism may progress to theft and robbery, a trend we see in some

major

British statesman who was prime minister from 1990 until 1997 (born in 1943)

Major

South American cities

such

as Rio or Buenos Aires.

This

issue of crime is probably the

third

major effect, and one that impacts on the community as a whole.

For instance

, children playing truant may cause damage, drop litter, intimidate elderly people and commit other acts which spread a sense of instability and anxiety, even though the financial impact is low. To conclude, the causes of truancy generally relate to lack of challenge or peer pressures, while the effects are seen in individual under-achievement and in minor crime against the community as a whole.