Truancy is a barometer of the quality of a country's school system.  Scandinavian countries have had the lowest truancy rates (especially Finland) globally for ages, mostly because they have made their schools more humane, interesting and enjoyable - sensibly avoiding the ills of authoritarian systems.

The answer to truancy by governments in the UK has always been the equivalent of putting a plaster over a septic wound.  It's either "Let's form a Truancy Police Force" or "Let's penalise the parents". The authorities seem incapable of understanding the real, the only solution to truancy is to deal with the bloodstream and not the unsightly skin eruption.

Quite often, the 'troublemakers' in schools are the most intelligent pupils, so bored and frustrated by school that they make a game of it, or else truant.  Of course, there are many reasons for truancy, including escape for those who feel belittled or are bullied at school, as well as those who like the title 'rebel'.  Whatever reason, schools would benefit if they shed their 'Us V Them' mentality and made them 'Us' places only.

I know that the following is anecdotal evidence, but I feel it sums up an entire attitude of pupils towards school and truancy:

I once bumped into a former pupil, a boy now 20 years old.  He had truanted persistently in the last two years of his school life. I hasten to add that I taught this boy in Year 8 only.

I asked him why he had truanted so much.  His answer was thought-provoking:

I realised in Year 10 that I was able to teach myself, that I could read all the books on the syllabus by myself, and not waste so much time at school doing useless things, being bored, and playing 'games' with the teachers.  I only attended school when I had questions for the teachers.

He then told me he had passed his final exams with top grades - having spent 90% of the time truanting.