Truancy penalties - should they be tougher?

I gather from The Independent that the government has dropped the idea of automatic fines for parents who take children on holiday in term time, beause of pressure from middle class parents. It is to be left to the discretion of the headteacher.

I have been on court duty when mothers were being prosecuted for not sending their children to court (no sign of the father), and listened to the stories behind the truancy, which are many and wide-ranging. One woman arrived in a wheelchair, having been threatened with custody if she didn't arrive to be sentenced. She had advanced MS and her two daughters were scared she would die when they were at school - she wasn't physically able to force them to attend. She was given a conditional discharge (should have been an absolute discharge), but was put through 4 weeks of high anxiety about her daughters going into foster care. She had a pre-sentence report written by a probation officer. The court admonished the school for complaining about peristent truancy without contributing to any of the multi-agency meetings that had been attempted to try and help the family prior to court action. Social services decided to use this poor woman to challenge the neglectful school and bring some awareness to the process. I don't know whether she got more help after this - I hope so.

Other parents (usually mothers, fathers always seem to be missing) haven't got the education or parental skills to manage their children's education, and don't have a clue how to effect a change. Schools could bring in parents to help them learn the necessary skills to support their children to stay in school, if they aren't working. By the time the children get to 13 or 14, it becomes so difficult, and children could be diverted into more meaningful activities that will prepare them for work and adult life. School doesn't have to be academic - it can be vocational, craft-based, use volunteers from the community and place teenagers in suitable work situations that will grab their interest, and give them work experience.

Middle-class parents can afford the fines and never seem to end up in court. Their children are probably struggling with school, too - it's not just persistent absence because they're on holidays - schools just fine them and there is no further action.

My parents saw their three daughters as undeserving of an education once we could read, write and type, as they believed we would meet prospective husbands and not need to earn a living! However, by the time I had left school, they realised that my young brother also hated school, and were left with a bit of a dilemma. He got a bit more attention.

am feeling really guilty just had a text from the school asking where GD is as she is not in school....the answer is she is here,my OH is at college as a mature student..he returns to college tomorrow...we all assumed that was the case for her....about to phone pupil absences and grovel...

I think it's a ridiculous idea to take the fine money automatically from child benefit, thus making the whole family poorer. If a child is a persistent truant for whatever reason, even if they are successfully shamed into returning to school there's no guarantee (or even likelihood) that they'll learn anything. Mothers have been sent to prison in the past for not making sure their child went to school - as Carol's story proves, there is a limit to what a parent can do when the child is virtually a young adult.

I think we spent some time discussing this when talking about whether it was O.K. for parents to take children out of school for family holidays.
I agree with bagitha - if a child is persistently truanting the school should be finding out why.
The child benefit might form an important part of the family budget - if it is reduced the children could well suffer.
I don't see how a mother can force a 6' 15-year old boy to go to school.

Fining parents is not really addressing the issue of why kids play truant.

I suppose it depends what they're doing when they're not in school! If they're wandering round the local shopping mall or slouching on a sofa watching Jeremy Kyle, I'd be concerned, but they're not committing crimes. Perhaos they're not interested in school and need better support. It does seem to be aimed at children living in lower social circumstances, not those in prep and private schools.

Having spent a miserable few years avoiding school, but not getting up to mischief, the thought of my parents being prosecuted and fined would have led me to think 'well, perhaps now they'll realise what I'm going through.'

When I truanted, my father would drop me off at the school gates and watch me walk in, then he would carry on to work and I would walk through the school corridors, out into the playground, and leave through the gates on an adjoining road. He never asked me why I was avoiding school.

If school had allowed me to study at home, and my parents had been supportive, I would have got my education a lot earlier. I would like to know how valuable current school education is, and by what criteria, as so many children are leaving school with little preparation for adult life and poor literacy levels.