§ 24. Mr. Heddleasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is satisfied with the ways in which local education authorities assess the level of truancy in schools through the measurement of justifiable and unjustifiable absence from school.
§ Dr. BoysonMy Department does not collect information on the methods used by local education authorities for monitoring school attendances. As my hon. Friend's question implies, the definition of truancy is very difficult and to distinguish between justifiable and unjustifiable absence from school can entail subjective judgments by teachers of educational social workers.