First Published in 2004. This pack on tackling truancy in schools is specifically written for use by teachers and for other caring professionals in the field, such as, education welfare officers, education social workers and educational psychologists. It brings together in twenty-four concise units the latest knowledge and good practice in the prevention and combating of truancy and other forms of non-attendance at school. Some units focus on understanding the causes and issues involved in truancy while others focus on the Government's latest initiatives. The ideas contained in the units are specifically designed to help schools, LEAs and other caring professionals meet the Government's new targets for reducing truancy. In order to help readers make the best use of the pack and its materials: each unit begins by providing a summary of its contents; each unit ends with a range of professional development questions or tasks which can be undertaken during training events. The pack can be read alongside Ken Reid's book Truancy and Schools, also published by Routledge.

Aims of the Handbook Acknowledgements Unit 1 The Outcomes of Truancy Unit2 Types of Truancy Unit 3 Categories of Truants Unit4 Incidence, School and Regional Differences Unit 5 Recent Themes on Truancy and Absenteeism Unit 6 Parents and Schools Unit 7 The Social Causes of Truancy Unit 8 One-parent Families, Pupils and Schools Unit 9 The Educational Causes of Truancy Unit 10 Improving School Attendance: The Use of School-based Review Unit 11 The Use of Surveys: Designing a Questionnaire on Attendance Unit 12 School Policy Documents on Attendance Unit 13 Practical Ideas for Schools Unit 14 Teachers, Teaching and Truancy Unit 15 A Five-year Project to Improve Attendance Unit 16 A School Improvement Project on Attendance Unit 17 OFSTED and Improving School Attendance Unit 18 OFSTED: Guidelines on Attendance and Behaviour Unit 19 New Initiatives on Truancy and Attendance Unit 20 Truancy and Exclusion Unit 21 Attendance and the Use of Records of Achievement