Simon Nakra, e-Registration specialist at DRS Data Services Limited (www.drs.co.uk), explores how electronic registration can help combat truancy in schools.

Two schoolboys in south-west London were recently awarded medals for not missing a day of school for five years.  Kingston upon Thames local authority gives a medal to pupils with 100 percent attendance – and Ryan Arnold and Alexander Mackie have achieved this five years in a row.

Sadly not all students have such perfect attendance records.  According to the latest figures, the truancy rate in schools in England has reached its highest ever level.

The truancy statistics for the first two terms of the last school year show 1.03 percent of school sessions were missed without permission, up from 0.97 percent. 

These latest figures – covering the autumn and spring terms of 2008-2009 – show the rate of unauthorised absences as running higher than any annual figure since 1994, when figures were first published. 

Headteachers say schools are putting an incredible amount of effort into tackling truancy but can only succeed if parents cooperate.  Parents say they often don’t know about their children’s absence until it’s too late to help.

Thousands of educational institutions including schools, colleges and universities are monitoring student attendance and tracking truancy using data capture technologies to record and process class and lesson attendance and registration details.  These systems use biometric scanning technologies to generate real-time attendance data providing a crucial insight into student behaviour.  Adopting this approach enables staff to notify parents and guardians of their child’s absence more quickly, supporting the establishment’s duty of care and providing the opportunity to improve parental support in the area of student attendance.

An independent study conducted by the Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR) of the University of Warwick* showed that electronic registration, when used to its full potential, can significantly reduce levels of truancy within the first two years of implementation.  By recording pupils’ attendance at each lesson, it is possible to alert parents as quickly as possible if their children ‘go missing’ during the day. 

Attendance data can also be used to help assess the impact of truancy on performance allowing any necessary steps to be implemented rapidly.

Electronic registration systems are available with a choice of biometric, card or PIN technologies and have the capability to interface seamlessly with most educational MIS systems enabling schools, academies, colleges and universities to electronically record the presence, absence and lateness of students – and staff! – in real-time, eradicating all manual registration methods.  It can also be integrated and used for access control, cashless catering, library control and many other core functions.  Electronic registration solutions also encourage students to take responsibility and accountability for their own attendance, as well as reducing the administrative burden for teachers.  It is also an effective way to monitor EMA.

Once registered in the system, students simply record their attendance using their fingertip, card or a PIN on a specially designed unit.  All readers are in constant communication with the controlling PC, thus delivering real-time information, necessary for managing registration and attendance accurately and efficiently.  Biometric systems are often preferred by schools because unlike a card or PIN, a finger cannot be lost or forgotten!
Biometric systems currently used in schools are based on fingertip recognition technology.

Despite reports, this does not involve storing images of fingerprints.  Instead a numerical value is derived from the child’s fingertip when it is first placed on the reading device.  It is this numerical value which is then stored.  Each time the child’s fingertip is subsequently re-read, a numerical value is again generated.  This is compared with the set of stored values, uniquely identifying the child within the population of the school if a match is found. Schools never keep an image of the fingerprint.

The future
The introduction of the 14-19 Diplomas will require more student movement across Key Stage 4 and Post 16.  Using data capture technologies to track attendance at off-site learning providers, be they educational or non-educational institutions, will be of significant importance in the fight against truancy.

For more information about how electronic registration can help combat truancy in your establishment, contact Simon Nakra on 01908 666088 or simon.nakra@drs.co.uk.

*Courtesy of Department for Children, Schools and Families