‘School–no thanks–it ain’t my thing’: accounts for truancy. Students’ perspectives on their truancy and school lives
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This study is an interview-based investigation of 15 students with unexcused absences in the last school year in Swedish compulsory school. The aim is to explore students' descriptive perspectives on truancy, school life and their own futures. The interviews are analysed as presentations of accounts within symbolic interaction. The students account a variety of excuses or justifications, including internal justifications, such as ‘I didn't understand’, and external justifications, such as ‘My dad is sick’. Examples of motivations for truancy include boredom (justifying internal excuses) and bullying (justifying external excuses). Most of the excuses seem to connect to the school atmosphere. All students except one indicate that they dislike school and all students except three have relationship problems with peers and teachers. These three students display a change or ‘turning point’ from truant behaviour to continual school attendance and from exclusion to inclusion.
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Truancy is often used as a legal or institutional term, whereas school refusal is not, which may create stigmatization problems.
“Truancy is often used as a legal or institutional term, whereas school refusal is not, which may create stigmatization problems”
From Reconciling Contemporary Approaches to School Attendance and School Absenteeism: Toward Promotion and Nimble Response, Global Policy Review and Implementation, and Future Adaptability (Part 1) (2019) · cites this paper as Strand, 2014
The Introduction (page unavailable) reports that truancy is a legal term for unexcused absences and discusses how such absences may be regarded as deviant behaviour requiring students to speak defensively. It does not compare truancy with the term “school refusal” or establish that the distinction between the terms creates stigmatization problems. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- M. Strand, A.-S.
- Venue
- International Journal of Adolescence and Youth
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-12-11
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 262-277
- ISSN
- 0267-3843 (ISSN-L)
- 2164-4527
- OpenAlex
- W2126205116
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 7.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Adolescence and Youth (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Youth Substance Use and School Attendance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Youth Education and Societal Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Outcomes and Influences
- Keywords
- truancy, unexcused absences, student perceptions, boredom, bullying, school climate, peer relationships, teacher-student relationship, school attendance, compulsory school, Swedish compulsory school, inclusion and exclusion, symbolic interactionism
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