Truancy sweeps are common

Campaigns painting parents as irresponsible if they take their children out of school in term-time are working says Ming Zhang.

But the Cambridge University researcher says the campaign has not cut truancy among children from deprived backgrounds.

"Middle class parents are not the intended target, but they also feel the heat when the news headlines suggest there may be a new breed of 'irresponsible parents' who take their children out of schools for one of their many family holidays," said Ming Zhang.

"These campaigns seem to have paid off by making term-time holidaying children attend school even more regularly, but many children in this group are already good attenders."

Figures published by the Department for Education show a 0.4 percentage point fall in authorised absences at secondary school (where the school gives permission for absence) in the past year.

There was no change in the truancy rate (unauthorised absences) for secondary schools, which remains at 1.1%.

'Skiving'

Ming Zhang said: "The primary target are those who come from more deprived backgrounds."

He said this group is usually known to the local social services for "persistently skiving schools, committing petty crimes or having other behaviour problems".

The researcher endorses the government's drive towards "extended schools", offering flexible learning for all the community as well as contact with social workers.

By 2006, the government wants all of England's 150 local education authorities to have at least one extended school.

"Serving as a hub of community and family learning, extended schools would motivate many young people and their parents to learn in an unconventional but flexible way.

"Distance learning and e-learning are already showing huge potentials in providing an effective way of alternative learning," said Ming Zhang.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education and Skills said: "Our strategies are beginning to have an impact on truancy in all its forms: whether that be on the pupil who truants for occasional days or on the persistent truant who misses schools for long periods of time.

"Truancy is a complex problem requiring a range of responses, but it is an issue we are determined to address."

In particular, the behaviour improvement programme in some of the most deprived areas of the country had resulted in truancy levels falling at six times the national average.