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|  | Truancy : factors that contribute to the truancy of indigenous Fijian male students in an urban secondary school .
Author: Tagicakiverata, Isimeli Waibuta.
Institution: University of the South Pacific.
Award: M.Ed.
Subject: School attendance -- Fiji, High school attendance -- Fiji, Education, Secondary -- Social aspects -- Fiji
Date: 2003.
Call No.: Pac LB 3081 .T244 2003
BRN: 977867
Copyright:20-40% of this thesis may be copied without the authors written permission
Abstract: This study is a result of the researcher's own interest in the issue of truancy which he considers a problem in secondary school. He has had numerous experiences with truants in his five years as a teacher at a government secondary school and he has witnessed firsthand the examination failure of students as a result of it. While some of those truants were fairly intelligent students, they were affected by problems either in school, at home or in the community. In conducting this research, the researcher aimed to identify the combinations of factors that lead to the truancy of students. Using the Case Study methodology, the study focused on the lives of four known truants in the same urban school. Due to a number of limitations (including ethical/cultural), the research is restricted to four male indigenous Fijian students. However, there are opportunities for further research on this issue using other combinations of students and different methodologies. The study showed that there are significant factors to truancy in school, at home and in the community. However, based on the case studies, home factors came out strongly and consistently as the dominant factor to the problem. Furthermore, the results seem to point consistently to the role of parents as the initiator of the truancy cycle. The assumption that there is a positive relationship between parents' attitude and students' attendance or performance reverberates throughout the interviews with teachers and stakeholders as well as the reviewed literature. While truants have been known to come from all sorts of backgrounds, a common denominator appears to be the level of support provided by the people at home, which includes parents, relatives and siblings. Support is displayed in many different ways and in this research, the case studies reveal significant elements of negligence and ignorance of parents. Support is interpreted as the basic responsibilities of parents; the prompt payment of school fees, uniforms, stationery, proper meals, study time and general discipline. When these are lacking at home, truancy is a possible outcome. The findings of this study provide an in-depth look into the lives, experiences as well as the culmination and combination of factors that lead to the truancy of four known truants in an urban secondary school.
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