Theoretical frame work
This study will be guided by Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological system’s theory of 1979 which holds that learners encounter different environments throughout their lifespan that may influence their behavior in varying degrees. These systems include the micro system, the mesosystem, the ecosystem, the macro system, and the chronosystem. All these systems influence school attendance of pupils (Bronfenbrenner, 2005).
Bronfenbrenner stressed the importance of studying a child in the context of his/her multiple environments, also known as ecological systems in the attempt to understand his or her individual development. A child finds him/herself simultaneously enmeshed in different ecosystems, from the most intimate home ecological system moving outward to the larger school system and the most expansive system which is society and culture. Each of these systems inevitably interact with and influence each other and every aspect of the child’s life(Luvmour, 2009).
Following a thorough analysis of the theory concerned, it emerged that parental involvement affects children school attendance in many aspects.
By studying the different systems that simultaneously influence a child, the ecological systems theory is able to demonstrate the diversity of interrelated parental involvement . Awareness of contexts can sensitize one to variations in the way a child may act in different settings. For example, a child who frequently absents him/herself from school may portray the role of a terrified victim at home(Bronfenbrenner, 2009).
Due to these variations, parents concerned with the care of a particular child should pay close attention to behavior in different settings or contexts and to the quality and type of connections that exist between these contexts. Instead, it appears that children are both products and producers of their environments, within the network of the interdependent systems as described above. Therefore, the researcher contends that Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory is not only an appropriate theoretical framework for the overall understanding of the nature and intensity of learner truant behaviour. It also provesto be of great value in promoting positive parentchildrelationships, secure and supportive homeenvironments for children and in fostering meaningful parent-school cooperation(van Breda, 2014).
Although generally well received, Urie Bronfenbrenner’s system theory has encountered some criticism throughout the years. Most criticism center on the difficulties to empirically test the theory and model and the broadness of the theory that makes it challenging to intervene at any given level. Some examples of critiques of the theory are:-It’s challenging to evaluate all components empirically, Its difficult explanatory model to apply because it requires extensive scope of ecological detail with which to build up meaning that everything in someone’s environment needs to be taken into account and failure to acknowledge that children positively cross boundaries to develop complex identities(Bitter, 2013).
