Time to Change the Truancy Laws? Compulsory Education: Its Origin and Modern Dilemma.

This paper critically debates the current development of parental prosecution for students'; unauthorized absence from school. The author examines the history of compulsory education in Europe and the USA and questions its pertinence today. The results of a survey of prosecution and truancy during the period 1999–2002, conducted in forty-three LEAs in England and Wales, are presented. The findings question the effectiveness of such new legislation and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]