Truancy in black schools: the role of parents

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education)Truancy is such a problem that there is a need to investigate it. The act of truancy has both psychological and social consequences. It affects not only the individual truant adversely but also the people in his social environment. The ultimate purpose of the research is essentially practical: to help teachers, parents and others to address issues of non-attendance. The present research focuses on the possible role of parents in the incidence of truancy, since the family is basically a community of love. The present research displays a two-pronged approach. Firstly, a literature study is carried out on truancy as a phenomenon and on the role of parents in children's development. This serves as the substructure for the second component, namely the empirical investigation. Secondly, an empirical investigation is done. The empirical investigation in Mamelodi high schools, is part of a group project that utilizes a criterion-group-comparative-group research design with a nomothetic strategy, comparing truants' data with those of non-truants