SOLUTION FOCUSED INTERVENTION FOR REDUCING TRUANCY AMONG ADOLESCENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS, A CASE STUDY OF ABA NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND STUDY

Truancy, or the habitual act of being absent from school without permission, is a major issue aecting the overall success of the school in which I am employed. Truancy may be identified dierently between districts, states, or governments; however, consecutive unexcused absences from school is the most common and acceptable definition. Unexcused school absenteeism, truancy, is not a new problem, but a historically present problem that has over the last decade received newfound attention as the lack of school attendance and its link with student delinquency has become more clearly identified. In 1993, “more than two-thirds of all school absences [nationwide] were non-illness-related” with absence rates reaching thirty percent each day in some communities (Doug, 1993). In 2002, more than 70,000 students every day were out of school in Colorado alone (Ramona et al., 2002). These statistics have monumental social ramifications because truancy is oen one of the first and best indicators of academic failure, suspension, expulsion, delinquency, and later adult crime (Janna Heilbrunn & Ken Seeley, 2003). It is however important to carry out a study on the solution focused intervention for reducing truancy among adolescent in secondary schools.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Henry (2007) indicates that truancy’s consequences are extensive, resulting in negative implications for multiple levels of society. In the short-term, truancy can predict maladjustment, poor academic performance, school dropout, substance abuse, delinquency, and teenage pregnancy. Truancy oen has immediate consequences for students in terms of reduced academic achievement because students have more limited opportunities for learning when they are absent from class. When truancy leads to school failure or to dropping out of school, youth are also likely to experience higher rates of unintended pregnancies, more criminal behavior, greater instability in career paths, higher rates of unemployment, and lower lifetime earnings. The average school dropout costs society more than $200,000 in excess criminal justice, social service, and healthcare costs over the course of a lifetime. Truancy also has immediate and long‐term consequences for communities in terms of public safety. Truant youth have been found to be involved in criminal acts such as burglary, auto the and vandalism. Communities with high rates of truancy are likely to have correspondingly high rates of daytime criminal activity. In the long term, the poorer educational and occupational attainment of formerly truant students is likely to increase their risk for adult criminality and incarceration