Abstract
The aim of this paper was to explore truants’ perceptions of the impact of teacher’s behaviour and attitudes on their school attendance. An in-depth literature study of the latest research on truancy uncovered that past truancy research focussed predominantly on the influence of home and community related influences in causing school truant behaviour. Three hundred eighth grade learners in the Metro East Education District (MEED) in the Western Cape, South Africa, participated in a survey measuring learners’ perceptions of the effects teacher-learner relationship on school and lesson attendance. The research findings suggest that respondents perceive unfavourable school experiences including being rejected, discriminated against by teachers and subjection to undue and humiliating punitive measures as significant grounds for their deliberate absence from lessons and ultimately dropping out of school. In presenting the research findings, it is argued that teachers often overlook the effects their class room conduct and attitudes may have on learners’ sense of belonging in school, learner school attendance and how learners view them. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that education authorities take account of the research findings of dysfunctional learner-teacher relationships in combatting school truancy. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p1056
Highlights
With the current emphasis on the dire need to offer quality education, greater demands are increasingly placed on schools to create learning environments in which learners feel safe, and experience a genuine sense of belonging (Sheppard, 2009)
This paper primarily aims to address truants’ perceptions reagarding the influences of teacher-learner relations which may shape patterns of truant behaviour in South African schools, a country in which generally speaking, limited research has been conducted on truancy and school absence
The significantly high levels of truancy and disciplinary challenges victims in this study presented with are of concern given the difficulties that such behaviour poses to one’s chances for school success and its association with getting into trouble as an adult
Summary
With the current emphasis on the dire need to offer quality education, greater demands are increasingly placed on schools to create learning environments in which learners feel safe, and experience a genuine sense of belonging (Sheppard, 2009). This is required in developing countries like South Africa where government policies are incrementally aiming at implementing inclusive approaches to teaching and learning. In many instances this form of learner response can be ascribed to the fact that chronically truant learners invariably experience great difficulty in catching up with academic work and eventually become totally disengaged from school (Fallis & Opotow, 2003)
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