Black truants' perception of the relevance of their schooling

M.Ed.The problem of truancy is causing a great deal of concern for the communities, for the state, for the family and for the school. The number of students who deliberately stay away from school on certain occasions is on the increase. The fact that absenteeism and truancy have become significant predictors of problem behaviour, troublesomeness and sometimes delinquency in secondary schools, makes it even more vital that the problem of truancy needs to be addressed with the urgency that it deserves. Up to now, very little is known about the contribution made by the curriculum content towards truancy. The structure of the curriculum, methods of instruction, the timetable, examination pressures and extramural activities are some of the possible causes of truancy. School rules, teacher attitude and teacher expectations are also among some of the contributing factors to absenteeism. The purpose of this research, therefore, is to attempt to find out if the curriculum content plays any part in curbing the problem of truancy, and to ascertain if there is a possible contribution of the curriculum content towards truancy. It is also one of the fundamental aims of this survey to learn more about the value orientations of children who do not attend school regularly and to establish curriculum changes that might be needed to alleviate the problem of truancy. In order to investigate the possible contributions made by the curriculum content, and the perceptions of black truants of their schooling, a two-part methodology was devised. In the first place, a questionnaire was formulated and a pilot study was conducted at a school that was not part of the target group. A survey was subsequently carried out at three Mamelodi high schools. The data from the questionnaire were analysed using the first and second order factor analyses, and even a discriminate analysis was applied on the data. The following format has been used in the presentation of the results. First, the findings from the literature study are discussed, and then results obtained from the empirical study are also outlined. From the literature study it was found that the content of the curriculum does not satisfy the needs of the individual student and can therefore lead to truancy. The schools' system such as school rules, timetables, language and methods of instruction sometimes demotivate students from attending school regularly. Teachers and family members also play a role in discouraging students from seeing any value in attending school. The following statistically significant differences were found after the analysis of the respondents' estimates of the applicability of the statements in the literature study as reflected in the questionnaire. If students had a choice, more truants than non-truants would stay away from school. More truants find school and school activities less interesting and most do not know what they want to do with their lives after completing school. More truants than nontruants find school irrelevant and school subjects less important and of less value to their future aspirations. It is against this background that one can conclude that indeed the school curriculum content does not help much in curbing the problem of truancy