THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM AMONG THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

STUDENTS OF TRENTO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

RESEARCHERS:

CALIAO, JOHN STEPHEN

VILLANUEVA, RHEAN MAE JOY

MONTERON, KIER

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING and MATHEMATICS

(SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL)

MARCH 2019
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are using this opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone who supported me

throughout the research study. I am thankful for their aspiring guidance, invaluably constructive

criticism and friendly advice during the thesis work. I am sincerely grateful to them for sharing

their truthful and illuminating views of number of issues related to the research study.

Also, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my Adviser Mrs. Binnafe Malupangue

for giving chance to conduct this study.

I thank my fellow researchers in this thesis: Kier Monteron and Rhean Villanueva, for the

stimulating discussions, for the sleepless nights we are working together before deadlines and for

all the fun we have had in the last 5 weeks.

Last but not the least, I would like to thanks of our family for supporting us on this study

through guidance, financial support and emotionally. And also, for giving us birth at the first place

and supporting us spiritually throughout our life.

Background of the Study

All senior high students, yet for one reason or another, at one time or other time want miss

to a day of school. The general tendency to engage in such unwillingness is referred to absenteeism.

All student had already encounter many challenges and lot of failures but beside of that they also

encountered a lot of success and achievements. But because of absenteeism, the opportunity to

achieve their dreams was breaking and it seems like the foam has disappeared. 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 affect the performance among

the students. The public education system is based on the assumption that students should attend

classes regularly in school.

Students in the senior high missed their classes in many times that could be also an

absenteeism even though excused or unexcused absence (Balfranz & Byrnes, 2012). Regular

attendance at school is essential for the students’ academic achievements, language development

and social development. Senior high students who attend school regularly can be successful in

their future professional lives through achieving work-related skills such as persistence, problem-

solving, and the ability to work with others to accomplish a goal. Absenteeism not only affects the

academic progress of the student, but also influences the in-class planning of teachers and at the

same time the motivations of the other students in the class.

as substance abuse, violence, physical injury, suicide, showing sexually explicit behavior at an

early age, pregnancy and eventual dropout. It is seen that students who attend school regularly

have higher academic success, standardized test scores, graduation averages, university entrance

rates and job opportunities (Balfranz & Byrnes, 2012).

Compared to their peers, senior high students who don’t attend school regularly have lower

academic performance, limited future employment opportunities and will experience social and

emotional problems in adulthood. 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. In regarding relationship between student absenteeism

and academic achievement, Epstein and Sheldon (2002) stated that student with absenteeism miss

opportunities to learn the material that enables them to succeed later in school and; fall behind

their classmates in academic achievement. In this notion, previous studies have revealed that

student absenteeism is related academic failure and academic performance. Student absenteeism

is also associated with social problems.

The negative attitude toward school may be the result of lack of relevancy in the school

curriculum, teacher failure in motivational techniques, or community, group or family attitudes

toward schooling. Such negative attitudes can be a serious obstacle to success in school, lack of

orientation toward education seems to be considerable factor in the talent loss resulting from the

dropping out of pupils who have a high potential (Nawaz, 2005).

The aim of this study was to investigate the causes of absenteeism at secondary

level in district Trento.

Specifically, the study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the causes of absenteeism among secondary school students in Trento?

2. What are the possible solutions to the problems of absenteeism among secondary school

students?

Objectives of the Study

This study aims to:

1. To find out different causes of absenteeism at secondary level in district Trento.

2. To sort out social, political and economic factors involved in the student’s absenteeism

at secondary level.

3. To find remedies for those factors which deprive the students from further Education.

4. To suggest such efforts that may be helpful for the children to continue their Education.
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Presented in chapter 2 is a synthesis of research that supports the evaluation of the

attendance policy and attendance program of Newport News Public Schools. Included in the

chapter is a historical overview of attendance, the importance of attendance, overview of Newport

News Public Schools, theoretical framework, causes or predictors of student absenteeism,

descriptions of related attendance policies/ programs, and a review of perceptions and attitudes

about attendance policies/programs as indicated by literature review.

Historical Overview

Early homesteading laws allowed the settlers free land on which to build schools.

Schooling was perceived as the key to success for individuals and to the excellence of society

(Mitchell, 1993). Free and compulsory education came to England and Wales following the

Elementary Education Acts of 11 1870 and 1876, although not always on a full time basis. The

Education Act of 1918 finally abolished half time schooling, and made elementary education

entirely free and compulsory until the end of the term after the child's fourteenth birthday.

Nevertheless, in most parts of the United States the problem of illegal absence dates from 1876

(Galloway, 1985). In the 1850s urban schools suffered from an extremely high turnover of

students. Many students were needed at home to do many of the chores, especially if they lived

on a farm. Other students worked outside of the home to help support the family. Poor attendance

was a problem to teachers and parents well before school attendance became compulsory (Pallister,

1969). Pallister notes that enthusiasm for education varied with the standards of the school; good

schools quickly obtaining the support of parents, and similarly bad schools, least in the eyes of
parents, quickly losing support. School administrators were immediately faced with new concerns

considering that in 1900 only 6 percent of Americans had a diploma (Wise, 1994; Kay, 1991). It

is clear that attendance rates varied little between 1904 and 1938, except in 1920 when lower

average attendance followed the social upheaval of the First World War. Galloway noted that

there is little evidence that attendance rates over the last ten to fifteen years (1970-1985) differ

very much from those earlier in the century (Galloway, 1985). Even with the increased 12

attendance and the increased graduation rates over the last 100 years, education is relatively the

same. A glaring example of this is the release of students for farm work in extremely industrialized

society. Our culture has changed but the reasons for excused absences have not changed

(Wise,1994). School attendance was a problem before education became free and compulsory, and

based on the researcher's knowledge and experience as an educator, it has continued to be one ever

since. The researcher notes that attendance figures can be interpreted in different ways. There is

little evidence that school attendance rates have changed noticeably throughout the twentieth

century. When examining the related literature, plenty of studies take place about the reasons and

effects of student absenteeism in abroad. However, in our country, this issue is not taken into

account enough. In addition, it is important note that the variables taken into consideration in this

study were examined separately by previous studies.

On the other hand, integrated examination of these factors in a single study may provide

us the beneficial information about the nature of relationship among these variables. In

consequence, the aim of this study is to examine relationship between personal factors (academic

self-perception, attitudes towards teacher and school, motivation and goal valuation), family

characteristics (parents’ educational level and income), student absenteeism and academic

achievement in structural equation model. Within personal factors, previous studies have found
associations between student absenteeism, academic self-perception (Corville-Smith, Ryan,

Adams, & Dalicandro, 1998), motivation (Moore, Armstrong, & Pearson, 2008), attitudes towards

teacher and school (Attwood & Croll, 2006; Valiente, LemeryChalfant, Swanson, & Reiser, 2008).

In addition, previous studies have also found that these personal factors were related with academic

achievement (McCoach & Siegle, 2003). These studies reported students with negative academic

self-perception, negative attitude towards teacher and school, and lower level of motivation had

high rate of absenteeism. Thus, it is hypothesis that personal factors would be predictor of previous

and current absenteeism, and academic achievement (H1). Student absenteeism is also related with

family factors. Previous studies found link between student absenteeism, academic achievement

(Hortaçsu, 1995), parents’ education level (Henry, 2007) and socioeconomic status family (Ingul

et al., 2012). The common findings of these studies were students from low level SES and

education of family had high rate of school absence and low level of academic achievement. It is

hypothesis that family factors would be predictor of previous and current absenteeism, and

academic achievement (H2). Finally, the different views exist on the relationships between

absenteeism and academic achievement. Some authors noted that students who attend school

regularly have higher academic achievement than students with high absences (e.g. Klem &

Connell, 2004). The other group authors believed that student with low level of academic

achievement were more likely to have a higher rate of school absence (Devadoss & Foltz, 2001).

It may be expected that there is a reciprocal relationship between academic achievement and

student absenteeism. In other words, while student absenteeism may affect academic achievement,

academic achievement may affect student absenteeism as well. Thus, it is hypothesis that previous

absenteeism would predict previous academic achievement in turn previous academic achievement

would predict current absenteeism.

This chapter contains the methodology used in conducting the study. It includes research

design, respondents of the research study, research instruments used in gathering data, sampling

technique as well as statistical tools in analyzing the data.

Research Design

This study employed qualitative research design to explore the nature of school

absenteeism among senior high students in Trento National High School in the Philippines.

Sampling Technique

The researcher gathered 60 senior high students in Trento National High School as their

respondents. Having 60 Senior High students as their respondents will set aside adequate data to

be shown for this study.

Time and Place of the Study

This study was conducted during the second week of the second semester of School Year

2018-2019 at Trento National High School, Trento, Agusan del Sur.

This study focuses on the Absenteeism the Causes of Absenteeism among the Senior High

School students of Trento National High School particularly on the reason behind their

absenteeism and Performances of the Students of Senior High School.

RESPONDENTS

This study involved a total of 60 students of senior high students of Trento National High

School.

TABLE 1.

TRACKS Numbers of Students Percentage(%)

Academic Tracks 18 30

TVL Tracks 32 53.33

Arts and Design Tracks 10 16.67

Total 60 100
 It is shown in Table 1 the number of respondents of this study. There are 60 total number

of Senior High students as their respondents. 30% students were in Academic Tracks, 53.33%

students were in TVL Tracks and 16.67% students were in Arts and Design Tracks.

Therefore, it could be seen that there are more respondents on the TVL Tracks than the

other two tracks who’s been a part of the sample.

Data-Gathering Procedure/Methods

The researchers will make a note that gives a permission of the principal that that we will

conduct a survey in the different tracks and collect data needed for the study within the school.

After the researchers gets the approval, researchers will immediately conduct the survey among

the selected respondents in the different tracks.

Research Instrument

The researchers prepared a questionnaire to determine the causes of absenteeism among

the senor high student in Trento National High School.