Factors Affecting the Absenteeism among Grade 11 Students of Maximo A.

Arellano

National High School S.Y. 2024-2025

Thesis Statement:

Absenteeism can lead to low academic performance; one reason of this is family

problem. Family problem can cause significant impact among students. Few students

lack communication to their parents and do not receive any support from their parents,

that’s why they tend to be absent in their class.

Another reason why some students tend to be absent in school due to laziness.

Laziness can kill dreams and we feel unmotivated to go to school. Feeling lost and not

interested in everything. This kind of feeling also involve our health condition.

Not feeling well is also causing them to be absent to school, they need to be

absent to focus only on their health for few days in order to get better as they get back

to school.

Questions:

1. What are the common reasons on the issue of absenteeism among grade 11

students?

2. Why absenteeism become habitual among these students?

3. What are the negative effects of absenteeism?

Scope and Delimitation:

 This study will investigate the Factors affecting the absenteeism among Grade

11 students of Maximo A. Arellano National High School S.Y. 2024-2025. This study is

delimited to few students in Grade 11 Narra who display such behavior. This study well

be done through direct interview which will be taken on February 17, 2025 to March 7,

2025. This research will focus on identifying and analyzing the factors of absenteeism

and to know the common reasons why this behavior is common.

Significance of the Study:

This study on the factors affecting absenteeism among Grade 11 student’s

attendance in Maximo A, Arellano National High School. By identifying the underlying

causes of absenteeism.

The purpose of this study is to know the reason why students are absent from

school, and to determine the factors that contribute their behavior. This study is

significance to teachers, students and administrators. This study will help the teachers,

students and administrators to let them know the main reason why students always to

absent to their class and to help them how to solve this common behavior of a students.

Review of Related Literature

Absence from school is referred to as student absenteeism. It also describes

routinely missing meetings, work, school, and other events. A child is considered
absentee if they miss some of their classes or fail to show up for class, whether or not
they have a good reason, according to Lannegrand Willems et al. (2012). Students who
have missed a significant amount of time of school are labeled absentees or truants.
Students' continuous absences in this way prevent them from learning, which disrupts
the learning process.

One factor influencing students' academic performance and potential for failure in
life is their attendance at school. According to one study by Gottfried (2010), achieving
high scores in the selected field or course is positively correlated with both academic
achievement and school attendance. Academic failure and other potential risk factors
could result from students' absences (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012, as referenced in
Akman-Karabeyoglu and Demir (2015).

Achieving the intended outcome from education and training activities depends
heavily on students' attendance at school and in their classes. Students must go to
school in order for educational programs and reforms to be successful. Identifying and
removing the causes of absenteeism and their impacts on learning environments is one
of the primary responsibilities of education managers. This study assessed current
policies and looked into how student absences affected learning environments.

Family Problem

One of the most important causes of absenteeism is the family's poor

socioeconomic circumstances. In this context, financial issues in particular have a
significant influence (Reid, 2003; Ozbas, 2010; Oztekin, 2013; Akuzum, Yavas, Tan, &
Ucar, 2015). Student absenteeism is rising among those who must care for their
siblings, work as seasonal laborers or in other jobs, or get married young (Kose, 2014).
If a kid has to leave class to see his family who reside distant from the school,
absenteeism is usually inevitable.

Conflicts between the mother and father inside the household

(Oztekin, 2013), broken families (Kose, 2014), and parents' incapacity to show empathy
for their kids (Akuzum, Yavaş, Tan, & Ucar, 2015) can all cause students to go to school
less frequently because they are depressed. Parental disapproval of education and
failure to place adequate value on it (Gomleksiz & Ozdas, 2013;
their low educational attainment (Akuzum, Yavas, Tan, & Ucar, 2015), their employment
status (Sahin, Arseven, & Kılıc, 2016), or both are significant factors (Kearney, 2008).

There are a number of reasons why students skip school, including a lack of
support from the community, an unsupportive school climate, family issues, inclement
weather, transportation issues, poor health, peer pressure, and the allure of social
media (Ingul et al., 2012). There are several short-term educational repercussions when
pupils miss school. Initially, they will fail to turn in assignments, which could result in
subpar performance and a lack of alignment across several topics. Additionally, they will
miss class events, which leads to a propensity to fall behind because they are not
participating in the educational activities.

Absenteeism among students is often impacted by family issues. Some of the

issues that prevent students from attending class include low economic status, parental
conflict, alcoholism, and the need for students to work to support their families (Balkis et
al., 2016; Scungio, 2016).

In situations where families lack close ties to the students are more likely to miss
school or fail to stress the importance of education (e.g. Guare & Cooper, 2003;
Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Many households might be unaware that every students'
academic performance may suffer as a result of absences, even those that are justified
(Gottfried, 2015b). Furthermore, according to Rogers and Feller (2018), the majority of
parents underestimate their child's absences. According to several research, student
attendance rose when schools and families improved communication to clear up these
misconceptions (e.g. Epstein & Sheldon, 2002; Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Parental
actions that exhibit a higher attendance rate are also linked to parents who have a
positive relationship with the school, such as by volunteering there and asking their kids
about it (Sheldon & Epstein, 2004).

Laziness

According to Price (2020, p. 9), the Laziness Lie is a "deep-seated culturally held
belief system that leads" people to believe that they are inherently lazy and unworthy,
that they must constantly put in tremendous effort to overcome their inner laziness, that
their value is determined by their productivity, that work is the center of their lives, and
that anyone who isn't motivated and accomplished is immoral. "There is no morally
corrupt, slothful force inside us, driving us to be unproductive for no reason," asserts
Price boldly. Limitations and the need for breaks are not bad things. Our sense of self-
worth is not threatened by fatigue or lack of motivation. The emotions we dismiss as
"laziness" are actually among humanity's most vital instincts, a fundamental component
of our long-term survival and well-being (Price, 2020, p. 10). Price adds that "those
we've been conditioned to criticize for 'not trying hard enough' are often always the ones
who are bravely battling the most invisible obstacles." (p.13). In secondary schools,
absenteeism is becoming a more serious and persistent issue (Demir & Akman,
Reichenberg & Lofgren, 2019; Karabeyoglu, 2015).

There are many different things that go into encouraging children to go to school
when it comes to motivational features. According to the authors (Arrof, Kamal, & Suhid
2012), unmotivated students typically choose not to attend class. According to a number
of studies, the number of students who miss school each year rises. Consequently, this
issue will have a negative impact on the school's reputation. Additionally, She (2002)
pointed out that some conditions caused the students to lose interest in learning and
instead focus on loitering or hanging out in other places. Additionally, studies have
demonstrated that students who do not support or engage in school programs or
activities are those who are not genuinely engaged in attending school (She, 2002).

Sickness

The most common reasons for missing school, according to several surveys of
students who miss school frequently, are health issues, such as short-term illness,
chronic illness, and appointments for medical, dental, or mental health care (e.g.
Erbstein, Olagundoye, & Hartzog, 2015; Humm Brundage, Castillo & Batsche, 2017).
These self-assessments are backed by studies showing a direct correlation between
school attendance and social, emotional, and physical health (e.g. Cutler & Lleras-
Muney, 2006; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2016).

Health difficulties, whether personal or family-related, are found to be a

significant factor in student absenteeism since they often prevent pupils from going to
school (Corley, 2012). Every teacher knows that common children illnesses like the flu
and yearly colds lead to absenteeism. These transient, infectious diseases are
frequently the reason for total absences (Wiseman & Dawson, 2015), however, they are
not the main cause of chronic absenteeism (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012). According to
studies like Kearney (2008) and the National Collaborative on Education and Health,
students with long-term health issues, including asthma, miss more school than their
classmates. (Taras & PottsDatem, 2005; Silverstein, Mair, Katusic, Wollan, O'Connell, &
Yunginger, 2001; Health, 2015). There are several ways that chronic disease can affect
attendance.

For instance, absence has been connected to asthma symptoms, hospitalization,

doctor visits, sleep deprivation, and vulnerability to other ailments (Basch, 2011).
Accordingly, absenteeism is influenced by diabetes, obesity, seizure disorders, and
visual issues (National Collaborative on Education and Health, 2015; Pan, Sherry, Park,
& Blanck, 2013).

Another factor that may hinder attendance is family health. According to Guevara
et al. (2012), children whose parents exhibit depressed symptoms are more likely to
skip school. Additionally, children who lived with parents who smoked or used other
drugs were more likely to be absent; Stempel, Cox-Martin, Bronsert, Dickinson, &
Allison (2017); Levy, Winickoff, & Rigotti (2011). According to a study on negative
childhood experiences, exposure to family drug use and neighborhood violence had the
biggest impacts on the risk for persistent absence, even after adjusting for additional
variables like a medical condition or a low socioeconomic position (Stempel et al.,
2017).