Abstract
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.