Glossary Term Truancy

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Glossary Term

Summary

Truancy means intentional absences from schooling. Truancy became an offence when education became compulsory (under state Education laws). This meant children charged with truancy could be arrested by police or truancy officers and committed to industrial schools and reformatories. Magistrates could also fine parents for allowing a child to truant, and order the family to be supervised under the probation system, or remove children from their families and commit them to an institution. Throughout the twentieth century, truancy was one of the most common reasons children came to the attention of state welfare authorities.