Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T19:13:44.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reasons for truancy: a literature review for school counsellors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2016

Richard Haddon
Richard Haddon*
Affiliation:
Pine Rivers State High School, Queensland
*
1 Tyrrell Court, Petrie QLD 4502
Get access

Extract

Students who are truant from school are frequently referred to a guidance officer or school psychologist in the hope of improving their school attendance. This presents a difficult task as little is known about the effectiveness of counselling with such students. This paper reviews the literature to identify reasons for truancy and to suggest some ways in which this knowledge may be of assistance in developing appropriate counselling strategies. This paper is concerned with truanting students of compulsory high school age. A definition of the various types of truancy is presented and a number of possible causes are identified. Two concepts which offer possibilities for developing counselling strategies with truanting students are discussed. These are, firstly, the feeling of alienation and disaffection from school experienced by many truants and, secondly, the individual psychology theory of Psychological Reversals proposed by Apter (1982).

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , November 1996 , pp. 107 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Apter, M. (1982) The Experience of Motivation: The Theory of Psychological Reversals. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bell, A.J., Rosen, L.A., Dynlacht, D. (1994) Truancy Intervention. The Journal of Research and Development in Education. 27, 3: 203–211.Google Scholar
Bigum, C., Fitzclarence, L., Green, B. (1994) Teaching the Lost generation? Media Culture, (Un)employment and Middle Schooling. Unicorn. 20, 2:28–35.Google Scholar
Bishop, L. (1980) The Chronic Truant. Quest. 30: 43, 44, 47.Google Scholar
Carlen, P., Gleeson, D., Wardhaugh, J. (1992) Truancy: The Politics of Compulsory Schooling. Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Coventry, G. (1988) Perspectives on Truancy Reconsidered: From Victim Blaming to an Educational Crisis. In Slee, R. (ed.) Discipline and School: a Curriculum Perspective. South Melbourne: The Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
Coventry, G., Cornish, G, Cooke, R, Vinall, J. (1984) Skipping School: An Examination of Truancy in Victorian Secondary Schools. Melbourne: Victorian Institute of Secondary Education.Google Scholar
Coventry, G., Cornish, G., Cramer, B. (1984) Student Perspectives on Truancy. Melbourne: Victorian Institute of Secondary Education.Google Scholar
Glasser, W. (1992) The Quality School: Managing Students Without Coercion. New York: NY: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Gleeson, D. (1992) Truancy and Compulsory Schooling - A Socio-historical Account. The Sociological Review. 40, 3: 437–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleeson, D. (1994) Wagging, Bobbing and Bunking Off: An Alternative View. Education Review. 46. 1: 15–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guevremont, D.C. (1991) Truancy and School Absenteeism. In Stoner, G., Shinn, M.R., Walker, H.M. (eds.) Interventions for Achievement and Behaviour Problems. National Association of School Psychologists.Google Scholar
Leeds, M. (1987) Truancy: From Causes to Program Direction. Youth Studies and Abstracts. 2. 1: 20–23.Google Scholar
McDermott, M. (1988) Measuring Rebelliousness: The Development of the Negativism Dominance Scale. In Apter, M., Kerr, J., Cowles, M. (eds.) (1988) Progress in Reversal Theory. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Moore, L., Clarke, H., Corfield, S., Edwards, L., Pasternicki, G., Wakefield, D., (1993) A School Based Action Research Project on Truancy. Educational Psychology in Practice. 8 (4): 208–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murgatroyd, S. (1987) Combating Truancy: A Counselling Approach. In Reid, K. (ed) Combating School Absenteeism. London: Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Murgatroyd, S., Rushton, C., Apter, M., Ray, C., (1978) The Development of the Telic Dominance Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment. 42: 519–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pasternicki, G., Wakefield, D., Robertson, J., Edwards, L. (1993) A School Based Action Research Project on Truancy: Within School Factors. Support for Learning. 8 (1); 3–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrie, S. (1982) The Development of a Tradition of Truancy: A Case Study. Unicorn. 8, 2: 178–181.Google Scholar
Queensland (1989) Education (General Provisions) Act (No. 30 of 1989). Brisbane: S. R. Hampton Government Printer.Google Scholar
Reid, K. (1985) Truancy and School Absenteeism. London: Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Reid, K. (1987) Combating School Absenteeism. London: Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Slee, R (ed.) (1992) Discipline in Australian Public Education: Changing Policy and Practice. Hawthorn, Vic.: Australian Council For Educational Research.Google Scholar
Sommer, B. & Nagel, S. (1991) Ecological and Typological Characteristics in Early Adolescent Truancy. Journal of Early Adolescence. 11, 3: 379–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar