Abstract:

Previous research studies had revealed that truant students have a greater tendency to be delinquent. Since non-attendance in school is a family and school related behaviour, it could be presumed that parents and teachers factors play a key role in the incidence of truant behaviour in schools. This paper aims at identifying both causative and preventive role parents and teachers play on students’ truant behaviour. The authors took enough time to explore the literature for the origin and concept of truancy, theories which explain truant behaviour. Furthermore, prevalence of truancy globally, parents and teachers’ causative and preventive roles on truant behaviour were also reviewed. Having found the causative and preventive roles parents and teachers played on student’s truant behaviour. It was recommended, among others, that parents and teachers should identify maladjusted ways in which they have contributed to their wards truant behaviour and ensure that they consult professional counsellors for appropriate techniques that will prevent the reoccurrence of such acts.

Keywords:

Contributory role, parents, teachers, truancy, schools.