RESEARCH SECTION: School attendance and attainment: poor attenders' perceptions of schoolwork and parental involvement in their education

Abstract

Because of established links with attainment, the UK government has, over the last ten years, developed policies to improve school attendance. Legislation now makes school attendance a parental responsibility. In the small-scale study reported in this article, Anne Sheppard, manager of an Education Welfare Service Team in North Yorkshire, collected data on 57 pupils' attitudes to school and schoolwork and their perceptions of their parents' involvement in their education. In order to examine the role of these variables in relation to school attendance, 'good' and 'poor' attenders of 12 to 13 years of age, matched for ability, were compared on a number of quantifiable measures regarding their perceptions of schoolwork and their parents' behaviour in relation to aspects of their schooling. Both good and poor attenders avoided class work if possible, but good attenders were more likely to do their homework and perceived their parents as more involved in their education. Anne Sheppard argues that Education Social Welfare Services need to take account of findings from parental involvement research in their practice if they are to increase both children's school attendance and attainment.

Managing Learners’ Behaviours in Classroom through Negative Reinforcement Approaches

“…These findings demonstrate that the approaches practised by teachers are more likely to be on diplomatic basis (Miller, 2006). Teachers are more tolerant by taking actions which are aligned with human rights and qualities as well as nature of parents (Sheppard, 2009). In addition, this study further renders in which teachers as classroom managers should know when exactly to punish their students to avoid unnecessary or disparaging punishment.…”

Untitled

“…This include students who cannot attend school due to illness, family responsibilities, house instability, the need to work, or involvement with juvenile justice system; students who will not attend school to avoid bullying, unsafe conditions, harassment and embarrassment and; students who do not attend school because they or their parents do not value education, they have something else they would rather do. Sheppard (2010) disclosed that majority of students' truancy occurred with the knowledge of the parents and that some parents simply allowed their children to stay home to have a day off. According to Sparks (2011) older students are sometimes permitted to stay home and supervise younger siblings who are sick and the parents cannot stay home from work.…”

“…According to Sparks (2011) older students are sometimes permitted to stay home and supervise younger siblings who are sick and the parents cannot stay home from work. The degree to which a student who is unexcused is absent may be a reflection of the parents' attitude towards the child's school and toward the value of education in general (Sheppard, 2010). Henry (2007) believed that the attitude of parents have a crucial role in determining whether a truant behaviour will continue or persist.…”

The untold truancy stories: a case study in Malaysia

“…Since many children who play truant from school do so with the knowledge of their parents who do not mind them taking a day or two off from school (Sheppard, 2010), which clearly shows that the parents concerned do not consider truancy to be a serious issue. That was probably the reason why the parents scolded one of the researchers when she called to inform them about their children's unexcused absences from school saying that they knew about it and that it did not matter as their children were only resting at home.…”