Why Do Young People Truant from School and What Activities Do They Engage in When Truanting - Outline Example

Running Head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL Research Proposal [The of the will appear here] [The of the id will appear here] [The ofthe course will appear here] [The name of the course number will appear here] Title: Why do young people truant from school and what activities do they engage in when truanting? Overall Aim The objective of this research is to understand the reasons behind truant from school in young people. Young people, nowadays, are increasingly participating in such activities which lead to negative implications on the education standard of the country as well as on the mental and physical health of these young people. The objective is to understand the reasons behind such activities so as to curtail these activities in the near future. Also the research further aims to understand the activities conducted by these people while they are playing truant. This will further help in reducing such activities since the core of the issue lies in the activities conducted while engaging in truant. Definitions of Key terms The key term in this research is truant. Cooper (2009) defines habitual truancy as ‘four unexcused absences in a month and 10 unexcused absences within a school year’ The Wisconsin Statutes in its Section 188.16(1) (c) defines truancy as ‘any absence of part or all of a school day for which a pupil’s parent or guardian has not provided a valid excuse’ (Wisconsin, 2000). Background Statement The reason for choosing this particular topic is that education has somewhere lost its importance in today’s world. There has been a remarkable increase in dropout and truancy rates which means that the education sector is failing somewhere. Students no longer consider education as their basic right. They believe in this world where retail giants and fast food franchises would hire them at good pay, they do not need education to survive. As the concept of single working parent is slowly disintegrating and parents no longer have the time to concentrate on their child’s educational development, children find it easier to play truant and get away with it. A recent study conducted on the subject of truant reveal that more than 50 percent of the parents are aware that their children are playing truant and yet they do not seem to care (Abrams, 2011). The report further revealed that the reasons for committing truant are not properly understood by the authorities. The authorities though impose punishments on the students, fail to realize the core reason behind the act. Most students said that the actions taken against truancy do not bother them and they still continue to commit truant because they have lost interest in school. Since education is the main pillar the supports the economy of every nation, the increasing number of truant activities should raise a red flag and it is time that the education sector focused on this issue also. Right now, authorities are not concerned with increasing dropout rates and they fail to acknowledge the fact that truancy subsequently leads to dropping off from school and if they could control this activities, the number of dropout students would likely fall. Theoretical Perspective Literature Review For this research, relevant academic sources were researched through the internet and academic websites. The literature on the topic pointed that there has been significant increase in the rate of truant in the last few years and truant incidences increase each year. According to Suhid, Aroff and Kamal (2012), the rate of truancy has been increasing each year and this reveals that the relevant authorities are unable to deal with the situation effectively. Reasons for Engaging in Truant According to Jay, 1999, while loss of interest was cited as the main reason for truant, the reasons for skipping school varied from one individual to the next. Another research by Huizinga, Loeber, Thornberry, and Cothern (2000) cited low self-esteem as the main reason which when combined with peer pressure leads to increased cases of truant. The study revealed that children who play truant are more likely to have low self-esteem as a result of rejection faced from their parents or teachers. They adopt such practices in order to improve upon their self-esteem in the eyes of their peers. Another view presented by Sheldon and Epstein (2004), is that parents have mostly disassociated themselves with regard to the education of the children and this is the core issue which leads to truancy Negative Implications of Playing Truant The literature reviewed for this topic generally revealed that truant has negative implications for students. According to Jay, 1999, this includes decrease in GPA, increased risk of delinquency, and increasing chances of dropouts. When students loose interest in studies, their grades fall in the short run. In the long run, the decrease in GPA leads to increase in dropout rates as the students are no longer praised by their teachers and are not welcomed in the school. As dropouts increase, delinquency rates also increase since these students become more prone to engage in illegal activities. Another article by Huizinga, Loeber, Thornberry, and Cothern (2000) further added that truant leads to increased risk of substance abuse, mental health problem and teen pregnancy along with increasing dropout rate and delinquency. When engaging in truant, there is likelihood that students join gangs. Gang membership is another issue that one faces with respect to truancy as students usually commit truancy as a result of peer pressure. Strategies to Reduce Truant Incidences Jay (1999), also focused on preventive strategies for truant that focused on increased interest by the school authorities; having teachers who provided positive feedback to children and generally aimed at improving the learning environment to make it more enjoyable for students. The research further revealed that parents and media are more influential in dealing with the situation than any other steps taken by the school authorities and the government (Suhid, Aroff and Kamal, 2012). In this aspect, the research provided an effective strategy to improve the situation. Another research by Sheldon and Epstein (2004), reached three main conclusions with respect to truancy and parental and community involvement. Firstly, school should involve the parents in the learning environment. The schools here need to implement activities and forums where parents are more involved. Secondly, parents and school authorities could focus on improving communication between each other so that both may help each other. School authorities can provide strategies to the parents to improve children involvement in schools while parents can provide school authorities information regarding their children’s activities. The last conclusion presented in the research focused on more studies focusing on this aspect of truancy. This research was important as it focused on the importance of parental involvement to deal with this pressing issue. Importance of Research Articles and their Relevance The literature review for this research was primarily collected through the internet and academic databases including Ebscohost and ProQuest. The keywords used while searching included truant, definition of truant, truant activities and truant strategies. Articles that covered all these aspects were mostly considered at this time when the basic understanding of the problem was being developed. Methodology The research method employed for this research would be a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research. The advantage of using this approach is that it allows the research to benefit from the plus points of both approaches. This means that the research would be able to cover a wide range of the population through quantitative approach and also would be able to develop an in-depth understanding of the issue through qualitative research (Johnson and Christensen, 2010). The target social group for this research would be students attending a public school in UK. The reason for using this group is that it would allow the research to cover students from a wide variety of demographics and would allow the researchers to understand the situation in the natural everyday setting. Methods The research would initiate with a quantitative approach whereby a questionnaire would be developed. The aim of this questionnaire would be to analyze the statistics relating to truancy rate and the activities conducted by students while committing truant. The questionnaire would first develop a demographic profile of the respondents. This would inquire as to the age, gender, economic status, and ethnic and racial group of the respondents. This would be done in order to understand how the personal background of the student impacts their truant activities. Students would also be asked whether they have committed truant in their lives and how often do they commit truant. They would be further asked about the reasons for committing truant and the activities they engage in while playing truant. The questionnaire would help the researchers understand the basics of truant and would form the basis of the subsequent interview sessions. The second part of the research would deal with qualitative approach whereby interviews would be conducted. The interviewers for this would be selected from the total sample population. 5 respondents who have committed truant the most often would be selected irrespective of their demographic profile. They would be asked to shed light on their reasons for playing truant and also they would be asked to suggest possible strategies that would help in reducing truant activities. The aim of conducting the interviews is to understand the issue in-depth so that strategies to work on this problem can be developed and later implemented where necessary. Timetable Activity Time Period Research Proposal 10 days Literature Review 1 month Developing Questionnaire and Interview Questions 10 days Researching for the target population and getting permission for the survey 1 month Conducting Questionnaires 15 days Collecting and Analyzing Data from Questionnaires 10 days Contacting interview respondents 5 days Conducting Interviews 10 days Collecting and Analyzing Data from Interviews 10 days Preparing Results 15 days Drafting First Version of the Report 10 days Reviewing, Revising and Proofreading 2 days Final Version of Research Report 5 days Final Reviewing, Revising and Proofreading 5 days Dissemination This research would particularly be beneficial for professional relating to the education sector. It is helpful for schools and their administration so that they may understand the issue and work about ways to improve the situation through the strategies that would be presented in the paper. The research would be helpful for the government so that they may introduce policies in light of the research findings that would decrease truant rates and improve the educational background of their citizens. The best way to make sure that the relevant parties access this report is by making it available on the internet for easy use so that every school may access it. Theory Engaging in Truant is an offence committed by child and young adults at an increasing pace. While truant activities are increasing in number, parents of these children are doing little or nothing to prevent such activities. What most people fail to realize is that such activities later result in criminal activities. In begins with truant which is a minor offence but once children realize that they can commit offences under the eyes of the parents and without being held responsible, it lays the foundation for further criminal behavior. The aim of the research is to: 1. Evaluate the incidences of truant in schools; 2. Evaluate the relationship between different demographics and truant activity; 3. Evaluate the reasons for committing truant; 4. To provide strategies to reduce the incidences of truant within schools. Sample and design The data would be collected from a public school in UK. The school authorities would be contacted for permission regarding the research. Students from four grade levels would be used for the survey. The questionnaire would be conducted through a moderator who would explain the purpose of the questionnaire. He would further satisfy the children that their answers would not be used in any place other than the research. The moderator would then distribute forms asking the guardians of the children for permission of conducting the questionnaire. The next day, the questionnaire would be distributed and collected within an hour. Analysis plans The data in this case would be a mix of subjective and objective data. In the case of objective data from the questionnaires, tables and charts would be used to analyze and present the data. For the qualitative aspect of the result, the answers would be coded and analyzed and then presented through descriptive analysis. Ethics When conducting any research focusing on extracting answers from a sample population, it is necessary to understand the ethical implications in the research so that they may be dealt with in the beginning of the research. In social research, ethical consideration includes ensuring voluntary participation, no harm to the respondents and protecting confidential information of the respondents (Babbie, 2010). In this research, the privacy of the respondents is the most important ethical consideration. The sample population here consists of children in their school going ages and thus they have little understanding of ethics. Thus, the research would have to be more vigilant. The sample population along with their parents would be informed that their answers would be taken to form a research report. It is important that the permission of both the children and their guardian should be taken in this respect (Grodin and Giantz, 1994). They would be subsequently informed that the results of the survey would not hold them liable for any activity that they conduct in their private lives. Also when conducting such a research, it is important to keep the names and identity of the children anonymous. It is important not to disclose their identity since school and other relevant authorities may hold them for their truant activities. Also when taking interviews, the school authorities would not informed as to the reason for choosing five particular students from the entire sample population. References Abram, F (2011) Trauncy Reports reveal uncomfortable truths. The Guardian, Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/dec/05/truancy-report-reveals-entrenched-problem [Accessed March 3, 2013] Babbie, E., 2010, The Basics of Social Research, Ohio: Cengage Learning Cooper, B. J., 2009, The Unheard Voices of Truants: A Study of the Aurora Public Schools Early Intervention Program, ProQuest Grodin, M. and Glantz, L., 1994, Children As Research Subjects: Science, Ethics, and Law: Science, Ethics, and Law, UK: Oxford University Press Huizinga, D., Loeber, R., Thornberry, T. P. and Cothern, L. 2000, Co-occurrence of delinquency and other problem behaviors. Juvenile Justice Bulletin, OJJDP. Jay, D., 1999, Student Truancy. ERIC Digest, Number 125 Johnson, B. and Christensen, L., 2010, Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches, New York: SAGE Publications Sheldon, S. B., and Epstein, J. L., 2004. Getting students to school: Using family and community involvement to reduce chronic absenteeism. School Community Journal, 14, 39-56. Suhid, A., Aroff, A. and Kamal, N., 2012, Factors Causing Student Absenteeism According To Peers, International Journal of Arts and Commerce Vol. 1 No. 4 Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau. (2000). Truancy reduction efforts: A best practice review. Spectrum: Journal of State Government 73(4), 13-15. Retrieved February 10, 2001, from MasterFILE Premier Database Read More