HABITUAL ABSENCES: IT’S CAUSES AND EFFECTS

A RESEARCH PAPER

PPRESENTED TO

THE FACULTY OF

SULTAN KUDARAT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

OF THE COURSE

METHODS OF RESEARCH

PRESENTED BY

ARNA G. BALABAGAN

JANUARY 2020
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

One of the most frustrating situations to most educators and classroom teachers is

when they try so hard to provide the education that students need but these students are

always absent. Teachers prepare lesson plans, colorful instructional materials and all

other things that will help the students learn conducively but sadly, some of the students

are always either tardy or absent. In present times, there is a difficulty in achieving

perfect attendance because no matter how interesting and well-prepared teaching

materials are, there are students who are likely to miss out on the day’s activities-

willingly or unwillingly. Absenteeism also affects the teacher’s ability to present classes

in a sequential and organized way. This can have an effect on the progress of all the

students in class. Moreover, the teacher will have a limited time to be in contact with

students with difficulty in their lessons because most of them may be absent.

According to Cassey 2003, going to school regularly is crucial and important for a

student’s education and social skills. Students who are frequently absent are a

disadvantage both socially and academically. They miss out on critical stages of social

interaction and development with peers, and at the same time limiting their academic

progress. This may result in low self-esteem, social isolation, and dissatisfaction that

could hasten non-attendance in the first place.

School absenteeism is an alarming problem not only for School Administrators,

teachers and parents but also to society in general. Unaccepted absences have a negative

effect on peer relationships, which can cause further absences. According to Malcolm,
Wilson, Davidson and Kirk (2003) teachers identified the effects of absenteeism on

children as: academic under-achievement. Difficulty in making friends which could lead

to boredom and loss of confidence. Prolonged absence can have deleterious effects for

the child in later life. Students who are absent from school are at the greatest risk of

dropping out of school early.

Absenteeism is one of the most top problems of the Third year Bachelor in

Elementary Education of Sultan Kudarat Educational Institute not knowing the different

factors behind this problem, that’s why, the researcher come up to this title.

Statement of the Problem

Generally, the main purpose of this study is to have an idea on the causes and
effects of habitual absences of the third year Bachelor in Elementary Education of Sultan
Kudarat Educational Institute, School Year 2019 – 2020.

Specifically to sought the answer of the following;

1. what is the profile of the students in terms of;

a. gender
b. age
c. civil status
2. What are the causes of habitual absences of the students?
3. What are the effect of habitual absences of the students in terms of:
a. Parents
b. Peers
c. Social
d. Teachers
e. Financial
 Significant of the Study

The result of the findings of this study will benefit the following individuals in their own

respective fields:

To the students

When a person will know the effects of his actions and decisions he or she has done, he

or she will look for ways to lessen the damage done. This study is aimed at raising

awareness of the impact of chronic absenteeism to the lives of the students who commit

such acts by directing the students to do better than what they already are doing. To

students who are chronic absentees, they will be given a new opportunity to go back to

school and may decline the number of the ratio of absenteeism.

To the Teachers

Being a teacher means that one must assume the role of the second parent to the students

he or she is in contact with students. However, students who commit chronic absenteeism

are one of the stressors to teachers. This study will be helpful to teachers who encounter

the phenomenon of absenteeism among students. The teacher will be able to devise

intervention programs to reduce the number of students who commit chronic

absenteeism. This study may also become a guide to teachers as they can implement or

improve the interventions recommended by the researcher for future use.

The School Administrator.

The School Administration is the primary people affected upon knowing the effects of

absenteeism. Their concerns can then be discussed with the student body and so as the

student body sharing their troubles to the administration. Through a conference the

administration might be able to arrive to solutions which can be applicable to different

situations.

To the Parents

The parents are the have its significant role in the success of his children. Upon knowing

the effect of the habitual absences of the students he/she will make a disciplinary action

or strategies to lessen the percentage of absences of their children.

To the Future Researcher

It would have a significant role to the future researcher because they could use this

research as their guide to formulate a strategies to address the habitual absences of the

students. The result of this study will be their basis on how to formulate that certain

technique.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study is limited only in identifying the different factors affecting the habitual

absences of the third year students of Bachelor in Elementary Education of Sultan

Kudarat Educational Institute school year 2019 – 2020, and identifying the lowest and the

highest factors of the problem.

Definition of Terms
Those are the following terms used in this study. These terms need to be defined to

clarify the meaning of the words included in this study:

Absenteeism  - is "chronic absence." In the context of school, it is the habitual or

intentional failure to attend school. While every student may miss some school activities

now and then, absence becomes a problem when the student is away from school for

many days.

Cause - a person or thing that acts, happens, or exists in such a way that some specific

thing happens as a result; the producer of an effect:

Effect - a change which is a result or consequence of an action or other cause.

- something that is produced by an agency or cause; result; consequence:

Exposure to the sun had the effect of toughening his skin. power to produce

results; efficacy; force; validity; influence.

 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, show the related literature that may help the reader to better

understanding of the study such as: Consequences of Absenteeism, and Factors affecting

the absenteeism. And other related studies that are relevance in this research.

Consequences of Absenteeism:

There are both personal and societal costs of dropping out. The loss of taxes, loss

of production and the cost of assistance provided to dropouts make the problem of high

school non-completion an issue for every taxpayer. Each year's class of dropouts will cost

the country over $200 billion (Hale, 2014) or more than Php 92 Trillion Pesos during

their lifetimes in lost earnings and unrealized tax revenue. Dropouts comprise nearly half

of the heads of households on welfare and an even higher percentage of the prison

population. The average annual cost of maintaining a prisoner is at least three times

higher than the annual monetary fund expended to educate a school-age child

(Greenberger, E. and Steinberg, L. (2003)). This cost does not take into consideration the

costs of adjudicating the crimes that sent these dropouts to prison and the monetary and

personal costs of the crimes themselves.

 The personal costs of dropping out include earning only half as much annual

income as a high school graduate by the time prime working age is reached, while the

likelihood of living in poverty is nearly three times higher for high school dropouts than

for those who finished high school. The following students are at risk of dropping out due

to too much absenteeism in their classes.

Students with poor academic performance are the single strongest predictor of

dropping out of school. This is also interlinked with too many absences from class.

Andrea Canter, a School Head of the Minneapolis Schools (2014) said that poor grades,

low test scores and poor performance task ratings may increase student frustration and

reduce motivation to stay in school and strive for higher education. Additionally,

retention in the same grade level is highly related to dropping out of school due to too

many days of absenteeism. Moreover, some research indicates that retained students are

three times more likely to dropout that those who are non-retained students.

Another consequence of student absenteeism is behavioral problems. Students

who drop out are more likely to have a history of serious behavioral problems that those

who complete high school, and this history may be traces back from their primary grade

levels wherein teachers do not address these behavioral problems, instead, the teachers

promote the elementary pupils from their elementary grade levels to “pass on the burden”

to the secondary level teachers. A case in point is what is happening in the Public Schools

in the Philippines wherein, the teachers may not have targeted or corrected the behavioral

problems of their students in the fear that these students, when retained will be their

(teachers’) burdens again (Batingal, 2014).

 School Dropouts have higher rates of chronic truancy and tardiness than those

who stay in school. Attendance problems can be an early indicator that the student is

disengaging from the schooling process Gausted, Joan (1991). According to Canter

(2014), daily school attendance reflects both student motivation and parental support.

Review of Related Studies

In a study made by Malik, Ladhani and Bhamani (2003) in Karachi India, they

examined continual student tardiness within an urban middle school in Karachi. The

primary aim of the study was to improve the punctuality of identified middle school

students by providing them with rewards and incentive on the observation of each

decrease in their tardiness. In addition to their findings, they have developed a new

intervention program which focuses on facilitating and transforming the behavior of the

parents and teachers towards student tardiness in the school. Malik, Ladhani and

Bhamani, Faculty, Department of Education, Institute of Business Management devised

an intervention which lasted for six weeks. The strategy they devised is a “motivation-

based” encouragement to learners who frequently miss out on their classes and commit

too many absences for the whole school year. After the weeks of intervention the post test

was carried out using the similar measures. The data included observations in two phases;

pre-intervention observation and a post-intervention observation by reviewing the

attendance register. The results revealed a significant change in the students’ tardiness in

the school post intervention. The findings of the said study highlight the importance of a

relationship between institutional practices of reward and behavior modification in

students.
 In a study conducted by Suhid, Asmawati, Aroff, Abdul Rahman Md. Ph. D. and

Kamal, Norlaina, (2012), one of the members of the Faculty of Educational Studies in

Universiti Putra Malaysia, who studied about “Factors Causing Student Absenteeism

According to Peers, there are many factors involved in motivating students to attend

school. Students who are not motivated, hence, will usually decide not to be present in

school. Based on several researches conducted, the rate of absenteeism among students

increases annually in the Universiti Putra Malaysia. As a result, this problem more or less

adversely affected the school’s reputation. Thus, their study was conducted to identify

factors that cause students to play truant. A set of questionnaire was used to collect the

information needed. The quantitative data was analyzed using Statistics Package for the

Social Sciences (SPSS) to obtain descriptive statistics indices. The research findings were

duly discussed.

One of the factors that affected students’ motivation in going to school is

indiscipline, according to the findings of the study of Suhid, Asmawati, Aroff, Abdul

Rahman Md. Ph. D. and Kamal, Norlaina, (2012). Indiscipline among students is a

perennial problem. One common discipline problem found globally is truancy. Davies

and Lee (2006) found that school children in the United Kingdom are inclined not to go

to school or choose not to attend certain classes during the school hours. Truancy also

occurs among Malaysian students, and according to Ee Ah Meng (2003), it has become a

social moral issue. Indeed, what is of concern is that the spread of the truancy problem

has given rise to various moral and social problems among students. This cannot be

treated lightly, because in Malaysia it has been reported that truancy nearly tops the list of

acts of misbehavior among students. Indeed, Circular 6/1995 of the Ministry of Education
(MOE) Malaysia stated explicitly that truancy was, and stiil is, a behavior that violates

school rules. Various papers have reported cases of Malaysian school children involved

in truancy. This problem of absenteeism is regardless of gender, race and religion. The

act of truancy among students occurs when there is an attitude problem among students

towards schooling to seek knowledge. Based on the records of MOE, a total of 24,840

students in 2006 and 21,060 in 2007, were found to have committed truancy. Of the eight

types of discipline problems listed by MOE, truancy was then ranked second highest after

‘lack of politeness’. Other discipline problems were actions that are criminal in nature,

time wasting, personal neatness, delinquency, vandalism and obscenity. The issue is

students who stay away from school without permission will not only be left behind in

the learning process, but worse still they will probably end up in drug abuse, gangsterism,

alcohol consumption, free sex, gambling and loitering. Certainly, playing truant is a

discipline problem, and where do these truants go to and what they do during the time of

their absence from school are related concerns. There are many factors why children stay

away from school without permission. In Malaysia, these factors include influence of

peers (Mohd. Shubari, 2000; Suseladevy, 2004), fear of being bullied, fear of teachers,

dislike of certain subjects, thinking that they will fail (Thi, 1994; Supramaniam, 1986),

no encouragement from parents or family problems (Mohamad Yatim, 1999), and the

school factor (Hussein, 1993; Tan, 2006). All of these factors have resulted in students

having no motivation to learn, therefore they turn their attention to hang around at other

places or loitering. Research findings have also shown that students who do not support

and participate in any school programs or activities are those who are not interested to be

in school (She, 2002). This study has attempted to revisit and identify factors contributing
 to the act of truancy. This study is probably quite unique in Malaysia as it did not focus

on students who skip school. Instead, this study explored the perceptions of students

regarding the reason their truant friends were not motivated to attend school or why they

were absent from certain classes.

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework of the study presented in figure 1 contains of two

variables, the independent variables that pertains to the students of Sultan Kudarat

Educational Institution which will be correlated to the dependent variables which

is the effect of habitual absences.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES DEPENDENT VARIABLES

 PARENTS PROBLEM
 PEERS PROBLEM
HABITUAL ABSENCES
 SOCIAL PROBLEM
 TEACHERS
PROBLEM
 FINANCIAL
PROBLEM

Figure 1. The conceptual framework of the study

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
 This chapter dealt with research design, respondents, sampling technique

instruments, procedures, and statistical tool used in this study.

Research Design

The study will utilize the Descriptive Method as a design in this research to
identify the effect of habitual absences of the students in the following category which is
shown in the conceptual framework.

Respondent of the Study

This study will consider the students in Sultan Kudarat Educational Institution.
Who are officially enrolled in the school year 2019 – 2020.

Locale of the Study

This research study will be conducted to Sultan Kudarat Educational Institute.

Poblacion, Tacurong City.
Sampling Technique

In selecting the respondent the researcher will use the Stratified sampling
technique before the researcher will use the simple random sampling technique to
distribute equally the number of respondent in each department. The researcher will also
apply the 10% as a margin of error in selecting the sample size.

Data Gathering Instrument

The data gathering instrument that will going to utilize in this study is the Survey

Questionnaire prepared by the researcher that is shown below:

Survey Questionnaires

Dear Respondent,

Please answer the questionnaire truthfully. Read the questionnaire carefully and

follow the instructions in answering the questionnaires. Thank you very much for your

cooperation with the researcher. Rest assured that the data in this questionnaire will not

be divulged as every answer and your identity are considered highly confidential.

Yours truly,

Arna G. Balabagan

Researcher
Direction: Rate the following statement by checking it. The interpretation of each scale is

given below:

Scale: Agree Disagree

A. FINANCIAL PROBLEM AGRE DISAGREE

E
1. My parents/guardian do not have a stable job/los their
job.
2. I don’t have parents in providing my financial needs in
school.
3. I am a working students
4. I feel shy to my classmate when I don’t have enough
money to buy food every recess
5. I can’t afford to provide my tuition
B. SOCIAL PROBLEM
1. I am addicted in playing online games
2. I am an introvert student
3.
Data Gathering Procedure

The data gathering procedure of the study is represented by the flow chart that is shown

below:

The researcher will ask permission to the College Dean of Education

Department to allow them to conduct the study by means of sending letter to
him/her.

The researcher will select the respondent

The researcher will formulate a Schedule plan on when to conduct the study

The researcher will identify the place on where to conduct the study

Statistical Treatment
The researcher will conduct the study

The statistical tool that will going to use in this study is the Mean Percentage to

measure the lowest and the highest factors affecting the habitual absences of students,

wherein the formula is shown below:

For the percentage mean:

X =
∑ x × 100
N

Where:
X–the mean percentage
∑ x – summation of x
N – the total sample size