GCSEs expose a class divide

The record pass rate achieved locally shows, once again, that today’s teenagers have much to offer the country. Their results are a credit to their hard work, their families and their teachers.

Yet, while further and higher education faces an uncertain future because of the need to cut the budget deficit, they have, at least, given themselves a chance of fulfilling their potential – whether it be continuing their studies or finding a suitable career opportunity.

The same cannot be said of those whose persistent truancy – for whatever reason – has compromised their learning, and their ability to grasp the basic numeracy and literacy skills which hold the key to their future success, happiness and prosperity.

With Yorkshire, yet again, recording more unauthorised absences than any other part of England, three fundamental questions need to be answered.

First, why is this region perpetually at the top of the Government’s truancy tables – and what does this say about the effectiveness of locally-driven measures to tackle this issue, and also the involvement of the parents of truants?

Second, why has a decade of initiatives, and record amounts of public money, failed to make a significant dent in truancy levels?

And, third, why does the Government fail to take sufficient action when absenteeism is first detected?

Under the current criteria, a pupil is only considered a persistent absentee if they miss 20 per cent of lessons – in other words one day’s schooling a week. Yet, while this benchmark is being belatedly lowered to 15 per cent, it still smacks of complacency – and that teachers only intervene by the time skipping lessons has become the norm for some youngsters.

This is not good enough. While everything possible must be done to provide an inspiring and stimulating learning environment for children to excel, and nothing should detract from this objective, schooling remains compulsory for all children up to the age of 16 – and this message need to be enforced far more rigorously than at present.