Truancy—Or School Phobia?

The 1959 Inter-Clinic Conference (which is restricted to Child Guidance Clinic personnel) had as its topic the problems of Truancy and School Phobia. In addition to its considerable professional value to the participants, this Conference revealed a number of other important aspects of the problem. It showed that this topic had considerable "news value" to the lay public : it emphasised how closely many other professional disciplines are involved and concerned in this problem; and it suggested that the division of responsibility and role between these various disciplines, in dealing with truancy, was not always very clearly defined.