ABSENTEEISM: ITS EFFECT ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

A Research Paper

By:
Junio, Sherwin M.
Marasigan, Jayvee G.
Ogama, SildjhannLeord M.

Submitted to:
Mrs. Jennielyn P. Caraig
English 10 Teacher

March 2020
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researcher’s deepest gratitude goes to Ma’am Caraig, family, and friends. Thank you all for
giving advice to do the tasks proper and accurate.

The researchers would like to thank Ma’am Caraig for helping and guiding through the
improvements of the research title and giving advice, correcting the mistakes when it comes to
research paper. Without Ma’am Caraig, the researchers won’t be able to make the study
successful.

To the family. The researchers acknowledge the little helping hand when the researchers
need some idea when it comes to the study. It would never be accomplished without the help of
the family of the researchers.

To the friends. Without the valuable assistance, this study can’t be completed. Thank you
for giving assistance and recommendations that helped in creating this study to pass it in time.

Lastly, the researchers are deeply thankful to our God almighty for giving us wisdom,
strength and motivation to continue and finish this task.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the study, the statements of the problem,
hypothesis, significance of the study, and definition of terms.

Background of the Study

In today’s generation, absenteeism is one of the timeliest and most relevant social issues in the
Philippines. Absenteeism is referred to as the habitual absence of a student or even a worker,
without providing a genuine or any reasons for not attending class. It is the most basic indicators
of to what extent the educational needs of the students are met by the schools. It also remains
as one of the country’s problems, especially on the academic sector today. The students face
disadvantages for getting late or worst for having absences. These disadvantages are being
shown and realized in the academic performance of a student.

Lack of care for the child is regarded as the most important family-based cause of both
absenteeism. Working conditions of parents could decrease the time they spend for and their
control over their children and increase absenteeism. Some of the students loses their focus on
their studies due to lack of family support. Some parents fail to give such support that may lead
to students’ absenteeism, and may result to failing grades. This indicates that lack of care for
their children is one of the many causes for having absences.

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

language development and social development. Students who attend school regularly can be
successful in their professional lives through achieving work-related skills such as persistence,
problem-solving, and the ability to work with others to accomplish a goal. On the other hand,
students who doesn’t attend regular classes don’t receive any of these academic achievements.
They may exhibit poor academic performance; and may lead to failing grades.

Aside from having it’s causes, absenteeism also provides it’s effects. There are a lot of
factors that may be affected due to absenteeism. It is seen that students who attend school
regularly have higher academic success, standardized scores, graduation averages, University
entrance and job opportunities. Compared to their peers, students regularly have lower
academic performance, limited future employment and will experience social and emotional
problems in the adulthood.

This study aims to know the effects of absenteeism to the students’ academic performance.
It also intends to help build a room for a better and more proficient understanding on how
absenteeism may affect their lives.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the effects of absenteeism on the students’ academic
performance. It also states the possible consequences when a student keeps on being absent.
This research also aims to help build a room for a better understanding on how this issue may
affect their lives in the future.

More specifically, the researchers sought answers to these questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender, and grade or year level?
2. What are the effects of absenteeism on the students’ academic performance?
3. Is there any significant difference on the effects of absenteeism on students’ academic
performance when grouped according to profile variables?
4. What course of action could be done to learn the absenteeism of the students?

Hypothesis

These are the hypothesis tested in the study

1. The profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender, and year depends because
absenteeism occurs in school or work where students’ and employees’ profile differ to
each other
2. Students who doesn’t attend regular classes don’t receive academic achievements. They
exhibit poor academic performance that may lead to failing grades.
3. There is no significant difference on the effects of absenteeism on the students’
academic performance when grouped according to the profile variables.
 4. To help prevent absenteeism, the best course of action that could be done is to create a
more positive school culture. When students feel happy and safe, physically and
emotionally they engage in school.

Significance of the study

Absenteeism is one of the most relevant social issues in the Philippines. It also remains as one
of the country’s problems. Students who doesn’t attend regular classes exhibit poor academic
performance and may experience social and emotional problems in the future.

It is hoped that the results of this study will be beneficial to school administrators, parents,
students, workers, and future researchers.

For school administrators. This research will help to create a more positive school culture. It
will also help teachers keep students on tasks and act positively.

Parents. This study will serve as an eye opener on what will happen if this problem
continues. This provides additional info that might be used when their child keeps on being
absent.

To the students. This research will be used in reflecting their own actions. This not only
leads to a higher attendance but also higher achievements.

Workers. This study will serve as a help for them to think of a more effective way in avoiding
absenteeism. This may also encourage them to work regularly. This study may also enhance
their knowledge about the effects of absenteeism.

To the future researchers. This will be used in conducting related studies. This research
may also serve as a guide in expanding the study on their research.
Definition of Terms

For the purposes of clarification; the following terms are operationally defined as they are used
in this study:

ACADEMIC SECTOR refers to the educational portion of the country.

ACCOMPLISH refers to the successful conclusion to the academic achievements.
CONSEQUENCES refer to which follows when a student keeps on being absent.
DEVELOPMENT takes place when an individual creates or produce an improved output by
deliberate effort over time.
EDUCATIONAL NEEDS refer to the needs of a student.
ESSENTIAL is being necessary, indispensable or unavoidable.
EXHIBIT refers to showing or displaying something outwardly especially by visible signs or
actions.
GENUINE pertains to experiences or feelings that is sincerely and honestly felt.
HABITUAL refers to actions repeatedly done.
PERSISTENCE pertains to the continuance without change in function or structure.
PROFICIENT is being well advanced in art, occupation or any branch of knowledge.
RELEVANT means having significant and demonstrative bearing on the matter at hand.
RESPONDENTS refer to a person or group of people that responds to an interview or survey.
STANDARDIZED is brought, done or produced into a standard and consistent way.
VARIABLE is a factor in a scientific experiment that may be subject to change.
 CHAPTER 2

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter presents the review of related literature and studies both local and foreign.

Foreign Literature

Importance of Attendance

According to WK Smith. Government officials, teachers' groups, and individual parents all have
voiced their concerns over the need to develop policies and practices to counteract the
problems facing our nation's schools today such as the dropout rate, drug abuse, and declining
education performance (Bernstein,1990). Poor school attendance arouses strong feelings in
teachers, parents, members of the educational support services, educational administrators,
politicians, and pupils. These strong feelings are expressed in different and often 13
contradictory ways, depending on the individual's own perspective (Galloway, 1985). The
statistics related to school absenteeism are staggering. Each school day, 2,500,000 students
are reported absent from school. The dropout rate is estimated at 27 percent nationally and over
45 percent in some cities. The 27 percent dropout rate equates to 65 busloads of students who
leave United States schools each week and do not return. In a year's time, 700,000 students will
be lost. In two years, the number will exceed one million (Person, 1990 The school philosophy,
in general, is one that stresses to teachers, pupils, and parents the importance of Therefore, it is
incumbent upon educators to do all they can to promote good school attendance habits among
their pupils.

Student Absenteeism

According to the Child Trends in 2014.From 1994-2014, American Indian students in both fourth
and eight-grades were most likely to report missing three or more days of school compared to
their counterparts in other rational or ethnic groups. Fourth and eight-grades students classified
as having disability were more likely than student without a disability to have missed three or
more school days. Studies show that student’s attendance or absenteeism is closely linked with
good-students health thus resulting to higher academic achievements. Chronic absenteeism is a
persistent problem and behavioral and development issues. There is general agreement among
researchers that are being chronically absent paces student at risk of negative academic
consequences.

ForeignStudies

TheSchool Absenteeism among HighSchool: Contributing Factors

According to Murat Balkis, Gokmen Arslan and Irdnic Guru in 2016. The finding of the study
noticed that students who have negative academic self-perception, negative attitudes toward
teacher and school, lack of goal, and lack of motivation, are more likely to have school
absenteeism. Findings also showed that students, whose parent have low educational level and
low income, are more likely to have high level of school absenteeism. Finally, findings notice
that students’ academic achievements affected by absenteeism, which in turn, predicted future
school absenteeism. Absenteeism in students affects their school performances especially when
they are in a group or teamwork for their assignments and projects. Since grouping will help
develop the students’ cooperatives and ability to share and gain knowledge from their group
mates, likewise, the group mates will also miss the opportunity of gaining knowledge from the
absent student.

Distinguishing Absentee Students from Regular Attenders

According to Jane Corville-Smith, Bruce A. Ryan, Gerald R. Adams and Tom Dalcandro in 1998,
frequently schools did not contact families until the problem was so severe that the student was
failing their academic performance. Also, research shows that the learning environment of an
entire school can be affected by an individual and students’ attendance problem. Must schools
receive funds by the population they have attending school on a regular basis. Absenteeism can
have pronounced negative impacts on students of poverty and absenteeism can reduce the like
hood of post-secondary enrollment. There is also evidence of a particular pattern of non-
attendance amongst university students, with most absenteeism accusing on Mondays and
Fridays being of one day in duration. There may actually be psychological benefits to occasional
absences. Yet, if one were to try to dress this in timetabling and in so doing, scheduled
weekdays. Student’s perceptions of the classroom or teachers as chaotic, uncaring or boring
were associated with student absenteeism and truancy.
Local Literature

Absenteeism and Student Performance

According to Philippine basic Education in 2013. As educator, it is important to know the

threshold. Drawing policies on school intervention regarding absenteeism requires guiding
information on where to draw the line. Policies cannot be simply drawn out on thin air three days
in a month that number, are result of research, is a useful guide for teacher and school
administrators. Absences create a dead, tiresome, unpleasant classroom, environment that
makes students who come to class uncomfortable and the lecturer irritable. Absenteeism
disturbs the dynamic teaching-learning environment and adversely affects the overall well-being
of classes. In quality terms, absenteeism is a waste of educational resources, time and human
potential. Student absenteeism also causes rework and wasted time for lecturers. It is described
by the article is only an initial analysis of the data. Ongoing research will continue to unravel
further the underlying factors that result into absenteeism. This is an important task since this
information likewise is necessary to design the interventions that are relevant.

A Qualitative Research Study on School Absenteeism Among College Students

According to Michael A. Clores in 2015, absenteeism indicates low performance of teachers,

students’ dissatisfaction of the school’s services, or lack of poor academic and non-academic
structures or policies that address the problems or factors influencing or the reinforcing this
behavior. Parents are financially burdened for having their children to stay longer in the school,
having to re-enroll them in subjects where they fail due to excessive absences. The present
study aimed to explore the process by which the phenomenon of the schools’ absenteeism
evolves or is experienced by the college students. In depth interviews of ten (10) absentee
students and the use of editing style analysis and a method described by Colaizzi (1978) yielded
3 (three) category schemes of experience of school absenteeism. (a) disempowering
circumstances-feeling of helplessness; (b) misguided value system-mixed act priorities; and (c)
pedagogical dilemmas - unappealing academic environment. Based on the findings,
pedagogical, psychological and social culture implications are discussed.
Local Studies

Effects of Absenteeism to the Learning Performance of Fourth Year Students of one

National High School in Batangas City, Philippines

According to the study of Rodriguez and Conchas [5] suggest that community-school
partnerships are critical in the quest to combat truancy and the alarming dropout rate among
urban youth. Meanwhile, Dube and Orpinas, [6] investigated the negative and positive
behavioral reinforcement profiles of behavior related to excessive absenteeism which revealed
that negative reinforcement involves avoidance, and positive reinforcement involves gaining
parental attention or getting tangible benefits from not attending. There are several high schools
in Batangas City particularly here in Verde Island district where the primary respondents of this
research came from. San Agustin National High School in fact is the largest high school and
also has the biggest student population found in this district, therefore it was chosen for the
reality that it can determine the impact of absenteeism. The school grounds of this said school is
found in San Agustin Silangan Isla Verde, Batangas City, Philippines. The school was founded
in 1970, the first public high school in the island. It is within the compound of the elementary
school with an area of 14,536 square meters. Located in a plain area bounded on the west by
San Agustin Kanluran, on the east by San Andres, north by sea water facing Batangas bay and
south by San Antonio.

Absenteeism

According to Joel C. Obrador in 2014, students in various gender groups, school level, and
location are at risk of dropping out for biased reason. Some of these factors are common to all
dropouts while others are more keenly associated with specific group. The adverse effects of
poverty on children’s participation in school is clearly manifested in all dropouts, and absences
and in many different ways depending or whether they are male or female, are in elementary or
secondary, in lower of higher school level, in urban or rural areas. It is widely recognized that
absenteeism can negatively impact grades in economics courses and that high attendance rates
can improve student performance in variety of school classroom settings. Student performance
is correlated with absenteeism. The author investigates the impact of enforcing an attendance
policy on absenteeism. The evidence suggests that an enforced mandatory attendance policy
significantly reduces absenteeism and improves exam performance. The families of habitual
absentees 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 the society also suffers as the children of school age hang around in the streets. They
can be found just gallivanting around. Since they have nothing to do, they resort to petty crimes
like stealing other people’s belongings and properties. Others may resort to drug addiction and
other behavior that is detrimental to society. Thus, if the student keeps on being away from
school for too long, he may grow up to be a liability of his community and of his country as a
whole. It is the aim of every school to lessen, if not eradicate absenteeism among its students.

Synthesis and Relevance of the Study

The above studies reflect the effects of absenteeism on the student’s academic performance.
Such studies serve as the foundation of the present researchers in their endeavor to pursue the
study.

The study conducted by Rodriguez have close bearing to the present study because the
researchers dealt with the perspective of the respondents in the effects of absenteeism on
student’s academic performance. Thus, it differed from the study of Joel for they also relate to
the factors in measuring a student’s learning ability while the present study incorporated the
effects of absenteeism on student’s academic performance and ways on how absences could
be reduced. The present study was similar to the study of Jane Corville-Smith because the
researchers provided insights on how cognitive and emotional experiences affect the student’s
academic performance when it comes to absenteeism. It was different from the present study
because it tackles about how the learning environment affects student’s regular attendance
while the present study focuses more on how the student’s academic performance is affected by
their absenteeism. The study presented by Arslan et.al. Have close bearing to the present study
because it also shows the effects of absenteeism on the student’s academic performance. Thus,
it differed from the present study for it tackled about the different factors on why the students
make absences while the present study determined the effects of absenteeism on the student’s
academic performance and how it is affected by the profile variables. The present study was
similar to the study of Obrador because the researchers also used profile variables in
determining the effects of absenteeism on the student’s academic performance. It was different
from the present study because it tackled about the causes and effects of absenteeism while the
present study only focused on the effects of absenteeism.

Students reared in several reasons benefit the most from being in school, one of the most
effective strategies for providing pathways out of the different reasons is to do what it takes to
get these students in school every day. In addition, we also take responsibility of in given
awareness to each student on the future impact on the attitude of those who prefer not to attend
class and take everything so easily.
 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the summary of the findings of the study, conclusions based on the
findings and the recommendations for the respondents to work on

Summary

The study entitled Absenteeism: It’s Effect on students’ Academic Performance used 40
students in San Pascual National High School.

Specially, it seeks to answer the following questions;

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender and year or level?
2. What are the effects of absenteeism on the students’ academic performance?
3. Is there any significant difference on the effects of absenteeism on the student academic
performance when grouped according to profile variables?
4. What course of action could be done to lessen the absenteeism of the students?

Conclusions

Presented in this section are the conclusion of the conducted study based on the findings
of this research.

1. There is an equal distribution of respondents to all given age brackets in terms of age. There,
are also an equal distribution of respondents in terms of year level. In terms of gender, there is a
higher number of male respondents than of the female.
2. There are a lot of effects in absenteeism on the students’ academic performance.
* Exhibits low grade performance.
* Lack of knowledge when it comes to activities.
* Social and emotional problems in the adulthood.
* Lack of knowledge to create her/his own recitation
3. On the student’s academic performance when grouped according to age, gender, and year
or level, there is no significant differences on the effects of absenteeism.
4. The proposed activity may help to lessen the absenteeism of the students.

Recommendations

Presented in this section are the given recommendations of the current study which were
derived from the gathered data and the conclusions.

1. School administrators may conduct seminars to enhance the students’ understanding

on the effects of absenteeism on their academic performance.
2. Parents of students may monitor the progress of their children’s attendance to school
and their academic performance.
3. The students may use the proposed activities to help them improve their willingness
to go to their work regularly.
4. Future researchers may conduct similar research to further validate the findings.
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