This week on www.cypnow.co.uk we ran a story about a north of England council which has been fining parents for their children’s truancy.
You’d hope the fine was the last straw and that the council has been meeting with parents to discuss their children’s absences, and the way forward, before hauling them into court and demanding money.
But will a fine really work? I’m thinking a resounding no.
Fining parents means we think it’s their fault. We’re saying if your child doesn’t go to school, you’re a bad parent and you’ll get hit in the pocket. Is that fair? Truancy is notoriously more common among children from more deprived backgrounds. Such as single-parent families where mum or dad doesn’t have enough hours in the day to work to make a living, look after the young ones and make sure little Johnny goes to school. What use is a £200 fine in that situation?
You can’t discount what Bob Geldof referred to in a CYP Now interview as ‘feckless parenting’ but I would imagine a very small proportion of truancy is due to this phenomenon and furthermore is any ‘feckless’ parent going to pull their socks up because of a fine?
There are other ways. Schools and authorities should be working with parents, not against them. If a parent knowingly allows their child to truant, it suggests that parent doesn’t have a high opinion of the value of school and probably had bad experiences at school themselves. The local authority coming down on them like a ton of bricks and demanding cash compensation isn’t going to change that opinion of school and authorities in general.
And if a child is truanting without parental knowledge all the more reason why that parent needs help and support, not a stinging fine and an even more stinging sense of failure.