Geldof speaks out against school truancy » Education » 24dash.com

Sir Bob Geldof will reinforce his call for a greater use of technology in the battle against truancy in schools in two events this week.

He will speak today at "Moving Young Minds", the annual World Seminar for Education Ministers in London which gives policy-makers the chance to share their experiences of educational ICT. On Friday he will attend the annual BETT education technology exhibition at Olympia, where his award-winning Groupcall company will show education professionals the official figures that have proven its Messenger software has significantly cut unauthorised absence in schools.

Official figures released by the Scottish Executive proved that Groupcall's Messenger system had helped some education authorities in Scotland reduce truancy levels in their secondary schools by as much as 27%.

The biggest fall came in Dumfries & Galloway. Others include Dundee 20%, Highland 13% and West Lothian 7%. In some places, schools who chose to use the Groupcall Messenger system recorded big drops in truancy levels, whilst neighbouring schools that didn't use the technology saw little or no change.

"These are astonishing results, which has already led to significant additional interest in Groupcall and its products," explains Geldof. "Given that truancy rates have been increasing year on year, these figures are phenomenol and represent a milestone for the technology in tackling truancy. We now have definitive evidence that this inexpensive system significantly reduces truancy. The potential ramifications of that for the rest of the country are huge."

Groupcall Messenger allows schools to send text messages (SMS) to the mobile phones of parents, staff and other school contacts or voice messages to landlines or mobile phones, for a low monthly subscription fee. The system was developed in consultation with primary and secondary schools and provides First Day Contact, unauthorised absence chasing and general parental communication all in one integrated desktop solution. The Groupcall system reads pupil and attendance information live and in real time from the school's management system. A multi-lingual version enables schools to send messages in any language required by the school community.

More than half of Scottish authorities have been using the Groupcall Messenger system over the past year following the announcement of a year-long pilot in 2005 by the Scottish Executive. All authorities that have been using Groupcall technology for a full year have seen either a decrease in truancy or have halted the increasing trend. Although average attendance in secondary schools was up from last years 90.2% to 90.5%, schools using the Groupcall system saw an average attendance of 91.1%.

"Scotland has led the way and it now underlines the case for a similar pilot to be undertaken in schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as well," adds Geldof.

Groupcall experienced significant growth during 2006. Its systems are now installed in more than 3000 schools across the UK and the company was named as the inaugural winner of the 2006 Trailblazers Award to find the leading business operating in the UK's life assistance sector.