News just in: "A 17-year-old has become the first young person to be fined for failing to turn up to compulsory classes".

Will that be part of a news bulletin sometime in 2013?

Well, it could be if the Education and Skills Bill, which will make education or training compulsory for all young people in England to the age of 18, becomes law.

If it sounds far-fetched just remember the case of Patricia Amos. She was the first parent to be jailed for the persistent truancy of her daughters.

Just a few years earlier, when the new truancy laws were proposed, few people had thought these new powers would really be used to send a mother to prison.

But it happened. The big stick was not just waved - it was used.

The full story,
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