Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

So today we get an announcement on truancy and how to combat it, given the woeful stats on the numbers of kids not attending school. The rumour is that attendance officers are coming back. If that’s the case, I hope it helps, but I wonder how much truancy is now an attitude that’s endemic, versus something we can just catch out with more surveillance. Because I don’t doubt that up until now schools have been trying their best to keep kids engaged. Many have come up with community based solutions or student led solutions, which have worked a treat. Some have tried to crack down on attendance and failed – it varies from school to school, but I don’t doubt many parents, teachers and fellow students aren’t all doing their best to address the issue. The problem is the data - the numbers show it’s just getting worse and you could argue the climate of the past few years hasn’t helped. Lockdowns, Covid, sickness, there are multiple factors at play. But tip into this also the fact that attitudes in some cases have cha