SCHOOL ABSENTEEISM AMONG GRADE 11 STUDENT OF CIT COLLEGES OF

PANIQUI FOUNDATION, INC.

CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning

environments for the teaching of students (or "pupils") under the direction of teachers.

Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. The

names for these schools vary by country (discussed in the Regional section below) but

generally include primary school for young children and secondary school for teenagers

who have completed primary education. The function of education is to teach one to

think intensively and to think critically and the main reason we attend school is to gain

the skills and education needed to live autonomously and successfully. School also

teaches us social skills we will need in our future lives and careers.

Going to school regularly is important for your child's future. Children who miss

school often can fall behind with their work and do less well in exams. Good attendance

shows potential employers that your child is reliable. Children who go to school regularly

could also beat less risk of getting involved in antisocial behavior crime.

Absenteeism is a tendency to be away from work or school without a good

reason. (Eneza Education, 2013) Absenteeism has been viewed as an indicator of poor

individual performance, as well as a breach of an implicit contract between employee and

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employer. It is seen as a management problem, and framed in economic or

quasi-economic terms. Generally, absenteeism is unplanned absences.

Absenteeism in school is the habit of staying away from school without providing

a genuine or any reason for not attending classes. Absenteeism is a truant behavior that

negatively affects the performance among students.

s of all the students in the class. Families of habitually absent students can also suffer. For

a poverty-stricken family, it may mean a continuation of the poverty and unemployment

cycle that may run in the family. This also contributes to family conflicts.

Pehlivan (2006) found that the major reason given by students for non-attendance

at lecture or school were bored at school, dislike of school and lessons, encouragement of

friends, and lack of expectations about education. Wilkins (2008) has reported four

themes, which play important role to motivate students to attend school such as school

climate, academic environment, discipline, and relationships with teachers. Ingul,

Klöckner, Silverman, and Nordahl (2012) found that school absenteeism associated with

internalizing and externalizing behavior, family work and health, and school

environment. In another study, Henry (2007) has noted that parents’ education levels

contribute to students’ absenteeism. In addition, some researches argued that students’

attitude and motivation for learning was a key factor in student absenteeism (Devadoss &

Foltz, 1996; Gump, 2006; Gökyer, 2012; Kottasz, 2005; Marburger, 2001; Paisey &

Paisey, 2004).

We all know that this generation is filled by students or millennials carrying and

having enough freedom to do whatever they want to do. For some, they don’t prioritize

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their studies due to their addictions, habits and behavior. Because of absenteeism has a

complex nature, the consequences of high level school absenteeism can be detrimental

for students. In the other words, the absenteeism among high school students can lead to

more negative effect such as low academic performance and many social problems.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to know the factors of absenteeism among students of CIT

Colleges of Paniqui Foundation, Inc. The result of this study can help the students to be

prepared and aware on the consequences of this issue. The study aims to find out the

reasons why some students are not attending in school and also to provide several

suggestions and an intervention program to address the problem.

Specifically, it seeks answers to the following questions:

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1. What is the profile of the respondent?

1.1 Age;

1.2 Sex/Gender;

1.3 Distance from home to school (km)?

2. What are the factors that influence students to not attend their class?

3. What are the effects to the students for being absent in class?

3.1 In academic performance;

3.2 To his/her future courses;

3.3 To his/her behavior?

4. Possible ways to prevent/avert absenteeism of a student.

Significance of the Study

This study aims to conduct data to identify the factors for not attending in class

affecting the students of CIT Colleges of Paniqui Foundation, Inc during School Year

2019-2020. This study would be beneficial to the following:

Students. They will be the beneficiaries of this study. They will know the effects

of absenteeism to their lives and they will also see the importance of education. The

result will give them knowledge and idea on how to prevent absenteeism.

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Teachers. The teachers can also give some additional information to this study.

They will also know the several reasons why a student is absent. They also would be able

to identify different techniques on how to influence their students to lessen or eliminate

act of absenteeism.

School Administrator. This research would give the school administrator such

information that will serve as their references in identifying the factors of absenteeism

among students.

Parents. The result of the study will enhance their understanding to the

importance of education to their children. Knowing the impact of absenteeism to their

child’s learning performance, a parent will be at the concerns of convincing their child to

attend school and so that they would show the importance of education to their child.

Future researchers. The result of this study will give them advance knowledge

and necessary data for further study or future related study about absenteeism.

Scope and Delimitation

The scope of this research is to know school absenteeism encountered in CIT

Colleges of Paniqui Foundation, Inc. This involved thirty (30) participants, three to four

(3-4) students per strand. The researchers did not force any individuals to answer the

questionnaire.

Definition of Terms

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Attendance- is the concept of people, individually or as a group, appearing at a

location for a previously scheduled event.

Academic Performance- or "academic achievement" is the extent to which a

student, teacher or institution has attained their short or long-term

educational goal.

Absent- not present in a place, at an occasion, or as part of something.

Truant- is a student who is out of school without permission.

Mental Capacity- being able to make own decisions.

Ragging- make fun of (someone) in a loud, boisterous manner.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter is the presentation of literature and studies from foreign to local

which may directly or indirectly be bearing to study at hand. Relevance to present studies

will give an ideas why these literature and studies are used.

Related Literature

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Foreign

Predictors of absenteeism can be found inside and outside of the school

environment. Bimler and Kirkland (2001) indicated that there may be as many as 10

different 'hot spots' that can predict student absenteeism and truancy. These 'hotspots'

broadly include: school conditions; home-based behavioral issues; psychological issues;

family background; school-based behavioral issues; peer issues; as well as lack of

motivation or interest in school. These issues align with more recent reviews of literature

regarding student absenteeism, truancy, and school avoidance behavior (Kearney, 2008).

As Kearney's (2008) comprehensive review of literature related to school absenteeism

and school refusal behavior suggests absenteeism can be linked to physical conditions,

psychiatric conditions, classification and proximal variables, contextual risk factors.

Researchers have focused extensively on student-level predictors related to

chronic absenteeism and truancy. Predictors at the student-level relate to the student's

physical and mental health; perceptions of school; as well as the availability of family

and community resources. Issues related to the student's physical and mental health

appears directly related to student attendance (Kearney, 2008). Chronic health conditions

are among the most significant predictors of student absenteeism. This review found that

asthma is one of the leading predictors for student absenteeism (Center for Disease

Control, 2009; Kearney, 2008). The Center for Disease Control estimates that 9.1% of

children under 17 years of age have been diagnosed with asthma (Akinbami, Moorman,

Garbe, Sondik, 2009). Researchers estimate that students with asthma miss between 1.5

and 3.0 times more school days than their peers without the condition (Bonilla, et al.,

2005; Dey & Bloom, 2005; Moonie, Sterling, Figgs, & Castro, 2006). According to

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Kearney (2008), absenteeism related to asthma can be exacerbated by numerous factors,

including age, poverty, medical care, as well as the student's living environment.

Research suggests that other health issues influence student attendance, as well.

For example, obesity, chronic illness, and chronic pain all appear to significantly predict

higher levels of student absenteeism (Palermo, 2000; Sato, et al., 2007). Geier and

colleagues (2007) studied 1,069 fourth and sixth graders attending nine elementary

schools in Philadelphia and found that students who had a higher than normal

Body-Mass-Index (BMI)were more likely to miss school than students whose BMI was

within normal range. They concluded that obesity was thus a significant predictor of

student absenteeism after adjusting for the student's age, race or ethnicity, and gender.

Taras and Potts-Datema (2005) reviewed literature related to chronic health conditions in

children and disclosed that the literature associates student attendance with diabetes,

sickle cell anemia, epilepsy, among other chronic illnesses. This research builds on

related work suggesting that other chronic conditions have also been attributed to

increased student absenteeism, including migraines, abdominal pain, musculoskeletal

pain, and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (Chan, Piira, & Betters, 2005). Roth-Isigkeit and

colleagues (2005) conducted a large-scale study of children who experienced chronic

pain. They concluded that "30 to 40 percent of children and adolescents with pain

reported moderate effects of their pain on school attendance" (p. 153). In addition,

researchers have found that teen pregnancy (Kirby, 2002) and drug/alcohol use (Roebuck,

French, & Dennis, 2004) are also significant predictors of student absenteeism. Drawing

upon survey data from the 1997 and 1998 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse,

Roebuck, French, and Dennis (2004) found that among 15,168 adolescent age 12 to 18,

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marijuana use was strongly associated with truancy and increased likelihood of high

school absenteeism and dropout.

According to the Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement,

attendance rates effectively predicted whether a student would fail a course or not, and

surprisingly, attendance rate trumped grade point averages in predicting whether a student

would fail a class or not. In other words, a student could perform very highly

academically, but would likely still fail if he missed too much class.

Adolescents who are affiliated with groups who participate in deviant behavior

such as skipping school, drug use, and alcohol use are more likely to engage in those

activities as well. In fact, social factors were presented in one study as one of the

strongest predictors of individual students’ behavior (Dolcini & Adler, 1994). If students

have a strong influence of friends who are more likely to skip school, that student will

possibly have a greater problem with absenteeism as well. Brown et al. (1993) mentions

that this does not mean that parents have no control over adolescent behavior. Usually

parents have already shaped the disposition of the child and that disposition and those

personality traits influence the peer group the child selects as an adolescent (p. 469).

Student absenteeism is a problem when it becomes excessive. It is an accepted

idea that situations will arise that will cause students to miss school. However, it is when

student absenteeism is seen as acceptable and is allowed to persist that it becomes an

issue both for individual students and for schools. Roby (2003) says, “Good weather,

vacations, and peer group pressure excuses effect daily attendance averages and student

achievement to a greater degree than illnesses and family deaths” (p. 5). This means it is

not the occasional legitimate absence that is affecting students, but the thoughtless day or

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hour here or there that is stolen from the school day. Many parents do not realize or

understand how quickly one or two absences a month might affect a child’s learning or

ability to keep up with what is happening in the classroom (Chang & Romero, 2008).

Education is a scaffold built upon itself, where students must learn early concepts to

proceed onto more rigorous material and student absenteeism may cause students to miss

out on important pieces of building that scaffolding simply because they are not in

attendance at school.

Related Studies

Foreign

Decreasing the rate of student truancy and absenteeism has been and continues to

be the goal of school districts across the nation for over a century. Amazingly, little

research focuses on what schools can do to increase and maintain student’s daily

attendance and even fewer studies explore how families-school-community can build a

partnership to work together towards this goal. Corville and Smith, (1995) stated that

“Despite the long history of concern over student attendance, the issue has received

relatively little attention from educational researchers.”

It is a fact that poor attendance predicts dropping out of school; chronic

absenteeism can have a negative impact on the student and school. Students who are not

in school are not learning and are not being adequately prepared to be successful in

school and in life. Research on truancy and absenteeism suggests that “students with

better attendance score higher on achievement tests than their more frequently absent

peers.” (Lamdin, 1998).

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Historically, schools have always held the student accountable for truant behavior.

Corville-Smith, (1995) and Hoyle (1998) stated that “Truant and chronically absent

students were considered deviants”. Sadly, some schools do not contact families until the

problem was so severe that the student was failing their courses. Also research shows that

the learning environment of an entire school can be affected by an individual student’s

attendance problem. Most schools receive funds by the population they have attending

school on a regular basis. If districts and school attendance rates are low, educational

programs and resources are in jeopardy of being cut. Also, in some locations student

attendance is used as an indicator of how well a school is functioning and requirements

are set and monitored for rating (Maryland State Department of Education, 1999).

Student absenteeism may affect all parts of a school system. The student who is

chronically absent or truant may fall behind, leading to poor grades, and an increased risk

of dropping out (Office of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention, n.d). Shannon and

Bylsma (2003) state, “Risk of dropping out is linked to negative self-perceptions or low

self-esteem, low aspirations, being bored or alienated by school, and pursuing alternatives

such as taking jobs or helping families” (p. 22). Other students could be affected by an

interrupted learning environment when teachers are trying to catch up chronically absent

or truant students (Chang & Romero, 2008). Principals, counselors, and school office

staff might spend an inordinate amount of their day contacting parents or tracking down

those students who are chronically absent or truant.

Local

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Causes of Absenteeism is caused by many factors such as: (According to Joel C.

Obrador, 2014)

1. Phobic Adolescence: During this stage in the growth of a teen, there is a lot of fear

developed as a result of physical changes of the body for example growth of pimples,

turbulent emotions etc. This scares teens away from school.

2. Lack of Interest: Students could be lacking interest in the study, which could be as a

result of content that is difficult for them to grasp hence pushing them away from school.

3. Teacher approach: The approach used by teachers may not be understood by the

student and this could lead them to lose interest in school. Punitive attendance policy

plays a big role in absenteeism too.

4. Pamperness from the family: Students who get excessive pocket money from their

families are most likely to absent themselves from school since they need time to spend

the money.

5. Diseases: Some diseases like asthma which requires attention and care as well as an

environment that is warm and not dusty could make students remain home.

6. School Infrastructural Facilities: Lack of libraries, sports facilities is a hindrance to

attendance of school among students.

7. Entertainment: Accessibility of entertainment facilities like cinemas could divert

attention of some students from school.

Balete National High School exists for about 41 years now and gradually but

surely moving on towards new insights for education to achieve better and improved

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results through a systematic approach, where the interaction between the parameters and

parts are well-defined. Using the goals of basic and quality education as the guide in

identifying the kind of intervention in all parts to be improved and developed could lead

and possibly produced desired results. The school strongly adhere to the idea of “Shared

Responsibility” working hand in hand that’s the concept being shared by the school

teachers, Internal and external Stakeholders, LGU’s and NGO’s for the realization of the

school’s mission and vision.

According to Williams (2013), the students’ decision on a school based problem

will not be taken responsibility by the school or the family. His regular absences will take

a part on what he learns and because of some conditions like social phobia or

unsustainable community practice he will have the reason to quit school.

Another claim from Harris (2014), was to be given attention for as far as his

research had shared, he claimed that peer groups are more powerful influences in

charging an individual than their very own parents. And influences like these especially

the not so good ones must have been provoking such individual in skipping school. But

his research also discussed that there are times that the condition of oneself must be a

priority. Sickness can be a factor to a self-inquired reason on absenteeism that must

address an urgent action. Furthermore, this citation agrees to the side of the student

respondents that self-inquiry is a justified reason and adequate enough to be a basis of

absences.

The school attendance rate in the Philippines has dropped among the older

children, a general fact in the recent findings of the Philippine Statistics Authority (2018)

revealed that children aged 14 years old showed a less impressive 91% and among the 17

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and 18 years old managed a 70% and 57% attendance rate only. Students who live in

communities with high levels of poverty are more likely to be four times chronically

absent than others who have reasons beyond their control such as, unstable housing,

unreliable transportation and a lack of access to health care (Balfanz, 2017). It is evident

that the poorest children have the lowest school attendance rate caused by the inadequate

human capabilities and limited access to social services.

Balfanz (2012) pointed out in his study the reasons for absenteeism. These were

presented into three categories that include illness, family responsibilities, and housing

instability in the first category, to avoid bullying, unsafe conditions, harassment, and

embarrassment that falls to the second category, and lastly, the lack of parent's interest or

the students themselves in their studies or nothing stops them from skipping school. It

was also stated that the primary characteristic of students who commit a lot of absences is

they live in poverty.

In the case of T. National Agricultural School, the only agricultural school in the

city, students’ absenteeism is one of the major problems. During the first semester of

2017-2018, a total of 246 (26%) of the students in junior high and senior high school

students were placed in warning status, meaning they have incurred the maximum

allowable absences. Some of these students are 4Ps beneficiaries. The comparative data

on failure due to absences of the school for the last three years is quite increasing.

Although faculty and staff are always reminding the students of the rules on absenteeism

and its consequences, still students continue to be absent in class. Home visitations were

also done by the teachers to understand the reason behind students’ absenteeism and

encourage them to be more present in class.

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology

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This chapter presents the research design, locale of the study, respondents of the

study, research instrument, methods of gathering data, and statistical treatment used in

this study.

Research Design

This study is a Qualitative type of research and used a Descriptive method design

of research. Descriptive research design is a scientific method which involves observing

and describing the behavior of a subject without influencing it in any way. The research

used an essay type survey questionnaire in order to know the School Absenteeism

encountered by the Grade 11 Students of CIT Colleges of Paniqui Foundation, Inc.

Locale of the Study

This study was conducted at CIT Colleges of Paniqui Foundation, Inc., Division

of Tarlac during the S.Y. 2019-2020.

Respondents of the Study

This study involved thirty (30) students in Senior High School Department which

are officially enrolled in CIT Colleges of Paniqui Foundation, Inc. S.Y. 2019-2020. The

researchers selected participants among Grade 11 students.

Research Instrument

The researchers used a questionnaire answered by the respondents mentioned in

the previous section. The questionnaire was used to know the factors and suggestions of

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the students particularly to those students encountering this problem and answered it in

an essay type.

Methods of Gathering Data

To describe the preference of students who’s encountering this problem,

researchers distributed questionnaires which consists of seven (7) essay type questions.

After getting the response of the participants, answers were interpreted by the researchers

to find each answers’ category.

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