Civic Engagement

Robin G. Milne

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138080171
• eBook ISBN: 9781351625494
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Civic engagement in this book is understood to include attendance at booked National Health Service appointments; compulsory attendance at school; the take-up of a variety of State benefits in cash and kind, such as Pension Credit and free school meals; and attendance at work. This book is the outcome of a collaborative exercise, in which specialists in a variety of disciplines have come together to better understand the state of civic engagement in the fields of health, education, social security, and employment. Their research is drawn primarily from the British experience, but the phenomena studied are international in scope.

Generally, civic engagement has been improving, but in certain areas there are serious gaps that still need addressing. Administrative arrangements are shown to reduce absence for booked appointments, without necessarily making referred patients more or less likely to attend. A variety of measures are suggested for truancy, and the take-up of social security benefits faces a number of issues. Work absence attributed to sickness is at least partly viewed as a psychosocial problem. Economic analysis shows the importance of incentives, and the potential cost of changing from selective to the universal provision of free school meals. Taken together, the sociological analysis in the book highlights the fragmentation of society and its consequences for civic engagement. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.

Recent trends in civic disengagement

Robin G. Milne

This study takes as its point of departure Putman’s classic study, Bowling Alone, on disengagement among voluntary organisations in America. This study views disengagement in terms of absence from pre-arranged situations, such as booked appointments, and the non-takeup of statutory means-tested benefits. Whereas Putman finds disengagement in America became more common from the 1960s, we find the opposite in the United Kingdom over the last 10 to 20 years. Central governments in the United Kingdom have been active in addressing absence and non-takeup in the areas studied. Absence may be a problem for schools, hospitals and the workplace, but for some pupils and employees they may be a symptom of poor relations within the organisation, and for some patients the outcome of the hospital’s administrative failure. A common stated feature in the non-takeup of means-tested benefits is the stigma associated with it. By way of contrast, the takeup of Child Benefit had been virtually complete. The question – whether the high takeup was because of the administrative simplicity of Child Benefit and its significant cash benefits over the long term, or because it was not means tested – might be resolved post-January 2013, when its eligibility and the size of benefit became income based.

Introduction

This study takes as its point of departure the work of sociologist cum political scientist, Robert D. Putman: see Putman (2000, 2001) for an abridged outline. Putman examines trends in public engagement in America for a wide range of voluntary organisations grouped as: political participation, civic participation; religious participation; connections in the workplace; informal social connections; altruism, volunteering and philanthropy; and reciprocity, honesty and philanthropy. With few exceptions, where data allow comparisons over time, they indicated a growth in engagement over the early twentieth century, followed by its decline in the second half of that century. Putman also identifies some activities which went ‘against the tide’ in the second half of the century.

Putman is less concerned with defining ‘civic engagement’, so much as to show how it affects ‘social capital’, which he does define. ‘Social capital’ arises from the generation of social networks, with the possibility of ‘generalised reciprocity’ among participants: ‘what goes round, comes round’. Putman (2000, p. 22) distinguishes networks described as ‘bridging’ (i.e. are inclusive) from those which are ‘bonding’ (i.e. are exclusive), of which sectarianism might be considered an example. Social networks, therefore, do not necessarily enhance the community as a whole. Finally, a key element in the development of social networks is that people must meet, and it is this civic engagement which enables them to do so. The failure to meet explains the title of his book Bowling alone: league 10 pin bowling, as a team sport, has largely collapsed and largely replaced by solo bowlers (Putman, 2000, pp. 111–113).

The Special Issue does not attempt to replicate Putman’s study of voluntary organisations, so much as to extend it to situations where folk fail to turn up at agreed situations or do not takeup benefits to which they are entitled. The focus in this paper is on ‘absence’, as against ‘social capital’. Case studies and disciplinary studies were selected for their insights into the issue of absence. The eventual outcome consists of five case studies and two disciplinary studies. The case studies comprise: absence from school and work, non-attendance at (booked) consultant outpatient clinics, and the takeup of Free School Meals and Housing Benefit. Thus, pupils within certain ages must attend school, but some are absent without explanation; some employees have contractual employment conditions, but are absent from work; some households are eligible for means-tested housing benefit, but fail to apply; some pupils are eligible (and subsequently registered) for Free School Meals but do not eat them; and finally, some patients have sought and been given booked hospital appointments, but do not turn up. This choice of activities varies from: the compulsory, attendance at school; to the obligatory, keep the appointment that had been requested, approved and booked, or give prior notice of cancellation, and attend work as contractually agreed; and to the voluntary, take up Free School Meals and Housing Benefit.

The paper is organised as follows. First, data are presented on recent trends for the activities covered by the five case studies. This is followed by drawing together some of the main conclusions from the five case studies and two disciplinary studies. We conclude with a brief discussion on how the results of the Special Issue relate to what Putman had found.

Recent trends in civic disengagement in the United Kingdom

Introduction

The aim of this section is to identify recent trends in civic disengagement for the case studies included in this special issue: School Attendance, Sickness Absence, Housing Benefit and other Welfare Benefits, Free School Meals and Hospital Outpatient Appointments, in that order. The selection is informed by reference to the United Kingdom experience. In some instances the activities are devolved, in which case reference is made to one or more of the four constituent nations, usually Scotland, as we are most familiar with this data source. The principal aim is to identify consistent time series, and not seek to explain why the trends behaved as they did. Although the data are UK specific, the issues addressed are common to other countries. We conclude by making some general observations based on the five case studies.

School absence

Education is devolved to each of the four UK nations. We focus on the Scottish experience, noting that in the school year 2014–2015 and in comparison with the other three, it did not compare that well at the primary and post-primary levels (NI Department of Education, 2016, table 3).

It is the school’s responsibility to record attendance. The absence rate refers to the proportion of half-day sessions over the school year. Data presented here cover the period from 1995–1996, when a new set of definitions on attendance and absence was put into place, to 2014–2015. Since 2010–2011 data have been published only every other year. New guidelines issued in 2003 made a number of minor changes (Scottish Executive, 2003), which are spelt out in detail in Scottish Executive (2004, Annex A). The most significant would have caused an increase in attendance with medical/dental appointments, formerly being recorded as (authorised) absences but now counting as attendances, and an increase in unauthorised absences now that holidays in term time have been unauthorised as a general rule (Scottish Executive, 2004, Background notes, para 2). The new guidelines came into force in the school year 2003–2004. These broad definitions have since remained unchanged, although clarification was published in 2007 on what should be included as an ‘authorised absence’ and what as an ‘unauthorised absence’ (Scottish Government, 2007, chapter 10). The new guidelines were introduced in the school year 2008–2009 and have since remained unchanged. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that comparisons of the reasons for absence between local authorities and their change over time reflect changes in recording practice as well as changes to the true state of affairs: significantly, recent official publications largely avoid publishing times series data on the reasons for absence.

Data on absence rates are shown in Figure 1. The rate has been lower for the primary than for the secondary sector. It has been fairly stable at 5% in the primary sector since 2001–2002; but has steadily dropped throughout the period covered in the secondary sector, from about from 12% to 8%. The revisions to definitions in 2003–2004 seem to have made little difference.

Bearing in mind the above reservations on recording practice, trend data on absence rates are shown in Figure 2 (a) and (b) for the primary and secondary sectors, respectively, disaggregated according to whether authorised or not. Detailed reasons for absence have only been published since the new guidelines were issued, first appearing in the school year 2003–2004. Since then, the most common reason given for an ‘authorised absence’ has been ‘sickness without educational provision’; the most common reason for ‘unauthorised absence’ has been ‘truancy, including unexplained absence’, except in the primary sector where ‘unauthorised holidays’ has been equally common. The published data do not disaggregate ‘truancy’ from ‘unexplained absence’. The 2003 guidelines defined ‘truancy’ in more explicit terms than previously, to comprise: ‘an application having been made to the education authority in relation to an attendance order’, ‘an appeal having been made to the Sherriff in relation to an attendance order’, and ‘unauthorised absence from school, for any period, as a result of premeditated or spontaneous action on the part of the pupil, parent or both’ (Scottish Executive, 2004, Annex A).

Figure 1. School absence rate, by sector, Scotland, school years 1995–1996 to 2014–2015 (%).

Sources: Scottish Government Attendance and absence in Scottish schools. Annual to 2008–2009: 2002–2003, tables 1a & 1b; 2005–2006, table 1.1; and 2008–2009, table 1.1. Scottish Government Summary statistics for schools in Scotland: Attendance and absence - Supplementary data. Annual series from 2010: 2015, table 1. Note: Absence does not include ‘Temporary exclusions’.

Figure 2. (a) Absence rate by approval, Scottish state primary schools, school years 1995–1996 to 2014–2015 (%) and (b) Scottish state secondary schools, school years 1995–1996 to 2014–2015 (%).

Sources: Scottish Government Attendance and absence in Scottish schools. Annual to 2008–2009: 2002–2003, tables 1a & 1b; 2003–2004, table 1.2; 2006–2007, table 1.1; and 2008–2009, table 1.2; Scottish Government Summary statistics for schools in Scotland: Attendance and absence –Supplementary data. Annual series from 2010: 2009–2010, 2010–2011, 2012–2013 and 2014–2015, tables 1.2. Notes: Absence does not include ‘Temporary exclusions’. Data not published by sector for 2008–2009. No data published for 2011–2012 and 2013–2014.

The tables show a steady decline in authorised absences matched, in the case of the primary sector, by a corresponding increase in unauthorised absences. Since we cannot have confidence in the consistency over time of the reasons given, it is not possible to suggest what the cause(s) may have been.

Finally, some unpublished information was made available on the concentration of absence among pupils in all sectors combined, and is shown in Table 1 for the two main reasons given in the school year 2012–2013. ‘Sickness with no education provision’ was not only a more common reason for absence, but was also more widespread among the pupil population. Thus, 5% of pupils accounted for 26% days lost from ‘sickness’, whereas the corresponding proportion for ‘unexplained absence’ was 59%. This pattern is repeated over the full range of pupils. Only 19% of children were not absent due to ‘sickness’ over the whole school year, whereas the proportion was 65% in the case of ‘unexplained absence’ (Scottish Government, 2015b).

Table 1. Proportion of pupils by days lost from absence by specific reason, state schools in Scotland, school year 2012–2013 (%).

		Proportion of days lost (%)
Proportion of pupils (%)	Sickness with no education provision	Unexplained absence, including truancy
1	9	26
5	26	59
10	40	77
20	60	91
30	72	99

Source: Scottish Government (2015b).

Sickness absence

The focus on sickness absence is because it is the predominant and legitimate presentation of work absence. Further, sickness absence is an outcome of a contractual relationship between employer and employee, and historically, there has been some debate that it may ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Citation information
• Notes on Contributors
• Foreword
• 1. Recent trends in civic disengagement
• 2. Entitlement and adherence in schools
• 3. Absence from work
• 4. Housing benefit: slow on the take-up?
• 5. School and local authority characteristics associated with take-up of free school meals in Scottish secondary schools, 2014
• 6. Using administrative innovation to address missed consultant outpatient appointments
• 7. Using economic analysis to increase civic engagement
• 8. (Dis)appointment: conspicuous absence in contemporary society
• Index