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Raising
Achievement
and . . .
Attendance
Behaviour
/ Inclusion
Community
and Parents
Early
Years
Ethnicity
Gender
Literacy,
numeracy and SEN
Out
of School hours activities
Teaching
and Learning Strategies
Technology
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Improving
Attendance and Behaviour in Secondary Schools
During
1999/2000, the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) undertook a
series of ten inspections of secondary schools with a specific focus on
truancy and exclusion. The inspections were part of the response to the
Government’s Social Exclusion Unit 1998 report, Truancy and Exclusion
from Schools.
The
report outlines key features of schools which are showing improvement. The
points made are generally sound and are presented in a less abrasive
manner than in some Woodhead era reports. Most noticeably the report makes
the point that,
"Concern about attendance and behaviour in schools
can sometimes mask the fact that most pupils attend school
every day and that the great majority of pupils who attend behave
themselves and work well with one
another and their teachers. The overwhelming majority of teachers manage
the behaviour of pupils well,
day in and day out." (Para 5)
Truancy:
The Problem of Truancy in America's Communities
Part
of the US Federal Government's Safe
and Drug-free schools programme, this dates from 1996 but contains a
variety of useful ideas and strategies to help deal with truancy.
Trailblazing
schools lead the way in drive to reduce truancy
(DfES)
This news item from
the DfES revealed that some of the strategies which helped reduce truancy
(and hence raise achievement) included:-
-
improving
registration procedures, including registration several times a day
and electronic registration;
-
introducing
reward systems to encourage full attendance;
-
forging stronger
links between schools, parents and Education Welfare Services so that
each plays their full part in tackling truancy;
-
the use of
Learning Mentors to follow up quickly on truancy and help turn
disaffected pupils back to learning.
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(Updated
21/04/08
)