For young people who wag school, mattering is key, truancy expert Dr Delia Baskerville says. (4-minute read)

A drama and education specialist, with a PhD focused around truancy, Delia has returned to her childhood home of Ōamaru and is bringing all her passions together in a play called Mattering.

Delia moved back to Ōamaru in March last year, after retiring from a position at Wellington's Victoria University Faculty of Education, where she trained prospective primary and secondary teachers in drama.

It was earlier in her career as a teacher at Hagley Community College she first became concerned about truancy and how it affects a child’s wellbeing and future prospects. She decided to complete a PhD in the topic at Victoria.

“So my PhD is looking under the skin of truancy - that student perspective of their lived experiences of truancy.”

She analysed 20 interviews from 13 young people, and using grounded theory methodology, a “four-stage process theory of wagging” emerged.

“I learned that the perceptions of truancy were that it began in class, and that involved detaching from teachers, peers and learning.

“But a significant finding for me, one that wowed me, was that when they went outside class, they found others who were wagging and formed a community. And in that community they were invited in, they were respected, they were listened to, they cared about each other, they found common experiences and similarities, and they belonged to that group,” she said.

“So it showed that that sense of belonging and inclusion is so important in our classrooms.”

The next stage of the theory is what happens when they are caught.

“They definitely needed support from adults to turn around. If they didn't get that support, they left school,” she said.

“Then I learned a lot about how and what students need to be re-included in class and come back to class. So the process theory is a story from the beginning to the end really, and it suggests what we need to do.”

Truancy is a very complex issue, and it has severe long-term ramifications, she said.

Historically, blame had landed on the children themselves, and then with further research, the parents. But it is an issue “we all need to own”, she said.

“We need a community approach . . . You know how they say it takes a village to raise a child? I really believe, from the research I've done, that it takes a community to address truancy and support families and children and support local community service workers to get these children the help they need to return to school.”

One child truant from school can have repercussions for that child and their family that are devastating, she said.

Research shows there are less opportunities for employment, and there are greater risks surrounding mental health and drug addiction, which can lead to jail. 

“So the outcomes aren't good, and if there is a massive problem with truancy, these young people are not going to be able to contribute to our knowledge society, and they're not going to be able to contribute to our economy. So it is a very serious issue.”

So Delia turned her learnings into a theatre script, and through Wellington UniVentures and the KiwiNet Emerging Innovators programme, she aims to have it performed by young people who wag, using the “voices of young people who truant”.

A pilot of the play was performed at Porirua College in 2019, by year 12 and 13 pupils, to a packed audience across five nights, and she now wants to bring it to Ōamaru - to be performed at the Ōamaru Opera House Inkbox theatre in July.

“I hope to engage young people who are not in school at the moment, who are still meant to be in school, in a process separate from the play, so that I can work with them and work out what their learning needs are, and then introduce them to the text,” she said.

“I then have a parallel process where I audition youth from the schools that are attending and they become part of the play.” 

Following the play there will be a talanoa or chat about what the play might bring up for people.

Delia is in the process of seeking funding to produce Mattering, which will run over several nights.

It is Brechtian-style theatre, she said.

“It's saying, ‘you're here to see this issue. I want you to think about it. You're not here to be entertained’. 

“So it is a real facilitation of the discussion, and an opportunity for people to see truancy from a youth perspective, to understand it from their lived experiences. 

“And it's an opportunity to think about their own experiences of school . . . and to really think about what they're going to do as they leave the theatre about truancy here in the Waitaki region.” 

Delia is hoping to meet with some of the local schools in the next month and would love to provide professional development for those teachers, she said.

“To show how we can address engaging and encouraging children to attend school.” 

Through her research in Ōamaru, she has met some “remarkable” people providing services in the community with real knowledge and understanding of youth and the dilemmas and issues they face.

“So I've been coordinating with them to get that arm of the project, you know, explore it and see if we can get those service workers and teachers and families and children talking together and working together. 

“So this play is the facilitation of that.”

From the Porirua pilot, there was “100 percent success” with the actors, Delia said.

One had graduated from Victoria University, two from polytechnic and others are in paid employment.

Delia needs around $23,000 to produce the play, and is trying to gather “lots of little pieces from different groups”.

“So that we really find a community way of working.”

She has sponsorship for a bus to transport the children, the Salvation Army is providing a room for rehearsals at a reduced rate, and she has sponsorship for breakfasts. 

But there are costs involved in hiring the Inkbox, and she would like to pay the actors.

She also isn’t relying on door sales to recoup, because she wants it to be affordable for families, who usually couldn’t afford to come.

“In Porirua we charged $2 for families and that could have been up to 10, because of the grandparents and the parents, so, you know, I'm not going to make a lot from the door sales.

“But I see that as a really incredibly important part of the component. So, at this stage, it’s not looking like a commercial business.”

It's not the only way of solving truancy, but it is a creative way, she said.

Delia is keen to hear from members of the community and organisations who think they might be able to help in some way, including musicians.

“Especially musicians, because I'd love the music to be local.”

She has two songs with lyrics that still need music put to it, and thinks it might suit music students studying composition, and could maybe count for NCEA credits.

Once this production is over, Delia would like to look at look at the sustainability of the idea, and think about where it could go next - maybe even overseas.

“I'll have the chance to compare the two, and to see the successes and the hiccups, and then, I mean, wouldn't it be lovely to have a theatre company, for example, called The Disturbers . . . and then me take a back seat a little bit because, you know, I should retire.”

Delia is excited about seeing the play on the stage.

“I'm really looking forward to seeing if we can get this conversation going and make a difference for families and children.

“I mean, it would be just so amazing for me. You know, it's been a lifetime of work, this.” 

Delia can be contacted at [email protected]