Education minister Ivan Lewis launched the latest round of coordinated national truancy sweeps on Wednesday.

For the next three weeks, teams of police and educational welfare officers will be patrolling the nation's streets, shopping centres and known truancy hotspots, challenging young people who are out of school to provide an authorised reason for their absence.

Phil Willis MP, Liberal Democrat shadow education secretary, said:"The root cause of school truancy is a failure by schools to offer many young people a worthwhile and meaningful curriculum.

"Using the police and other agencies to sweep children back into school to have yet more of the same is a recipe for student alienation and is a disaster for other students who want to get on with their studies.

"It is crucial that students who are long term truants are given new opportunities to re-engage with learning. This means vastly different courses delivered in colleges, the workplace or specialist vocational units.

"Punishment may please government ministers but does nothing to solve the long term problems."

Forum Response: The Princes Trust

Leslie Morphy, director of policy and programmes at The Prince's Trust told ePolitix.com: "Persistent truants need to be re-engaged into school if they are not to become severely disadvantaged later in life through educational failure.

"We need to be able to offer some alternative curricula likely to raise aspirations and change attitudes. Greater recognition of practical skills, such as business skills, problem solving and teamwork is vital.

"As an organisation working with educational underachievers we know this approach works - 94 per cent of the excluded or underachieving young people we support want to go on to further education and/or training.

"We must take a sensitive and supportive approach with parents if there is not to be further fragmentation of the fragile relationships often in place.

"Our research reveals more than 1.2 million 16-24-year-olds not in education, employment or training, a more flexible education system is needed if we are to stop young people slipping through the net."

Forum Response: National Union of Teachers

John Bangs, head of education at the NUT told ePolitix.com: "Truancy sweeps may in the short term work as they have a high profile and strong impact on the parents and send out the message that truancy can't be condoned.

"But for hardcore truants who have problems at school or at home it is not going to mean much. There is a need for multi agency involvement targetting the children and family of the children who are constantly truant.

"It has to be noted truancy sweeps are no substitute for the long hard work that takes place to tackle this problem."

Forum Response: ATL

Gwen Evans, deputy general secretary of the ATL told ePolitix.com: "If children are disengaged with education, there is a good chance that they are having to follow a curriculum that is not flexible enough, one that doesn't address all children's' needs.

"The comments made by the Princes Trust are correct, as a more flexible curriculum is required. Also schools do need to build and maintain relationships with parents and the local communities. Anything that puts teachers in the enforcer's role will not be helpful at building long term relationships between schools, parents and teachers in the long run."

Forum Response: PAT

Jean Jemmell, general secretary for the PAT told ePolitix.com:"It is to be hoped a more flexible curriculum will trigger responses in pupils so theywon't play truant.The 14-19 intitatives will help meet the needs of a more flexible curriculum.

"The most difficult thing to counter is the targetting those parents who condone their chidren playing truant."