In the Social Exclusion Unit’s report Truancy and School Exclusion, the Government has committed itself to an ambitious goal of reducing the learning time lost due to unauthorised absence by one third by the year 2002.
Improving school attendance is a key element in our drive to raise educational standards. It must be a priority for us all: parents, schools, local education authorities and Government. The price young people pay for irregular attendance is all too apparent : poor examination results leading to impaired job and life prospects and, for some, a depressingly predictable drift into criminal or anti-social behaviour. Failure to attend school directly contributes to the wider problem of social exclusion which the Government is determined to tackle.
These tables help to throw light on the problem of truancy by showing levels of unauthorised absence in each of the English local education authority areas. They also include levels of authorised - school-approved - absence and comparative statistics for different types of school so as to give the reader the full picture.
I am grateful for the help of schools and LEAs in compiling them.
Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
In the Social Exclusion Unit’s report Truancy and School Exclusion, the Government has committed itself to an ambitious goal of reducing the learning time lost due to unauthorised absence by one third by the year 2002.
