Issues of Students' Absence

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Malmö högskola

Lärarutbildningen

Kultur Språk Medier

Examensarbete

10 poäng

Issues of Students’ Absence

How Teachers’ Daily Work is Affected by Students’ Absence

Hur frånvaro påverkar lärares dagliga arbete

Ida Lundblad

Lärarexamen gy 180 poäng

Moderna Språk Engelska Höstterminen 2005

Examinator: Bo Lundahl Handledare: Malin Glimäng

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Prologue

I would like to express my appreciation to the school where I have been given the opportunity to conduct my investigation and where I also have done my teaching practice. Thank you for being accommodating and supportive, and for making me feel welcome. Special regards to my tutor who has been generous with guidance and positive feedback.

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Abstract

All teachers will inevitably be confronted with issues related to students’ absence. This study sets out to investigate how language teachers’ daily work is affected when students are absent.

Four language teachers at an upper secondary school were interviewed about their

experiences of and their views on students’ non-attendance. They were also asked to describe how they handle absence as a part of their daily routines.

All the informants thought that absence is a serious problem. Form teachers’ workload is especially affected if their class has many students with high absence. Their strategies for handling absence were based on their aim to keep their workload down and to obtain fairness andequivalence.

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1 Introduction

One form teacher at the school of my research made eight phone-calls during the lunch hour to students who had been absent without reporting it to the school. During a period of teaching practice for four weeks, I had the opportunity to see how some teachers’ time was spent dealing with issues related to students’ absence.

High levels of absence and truancy are common and important issues at upper secondary schools. Absence is a frequent topic for discussions in the teachers’ common-room, at class conferences and at most other conferences in school as well. All schools are affected but some schools more than others. Furthermore, high levels of absence engages authorities at all levels, for example, our government, the Swedish National Board of Student Aid, the Swedish National Agency for Education, head teachers, welfare officers and teachers. Teachers deal with most of the rules and routines of absence, which are set by the different authorities, and this require time and energy and highly affects teachers’ daily work.

Form teachers are especially affected by regulations concerning absent students, since it is their responsibility to, for example, contact and talk to the students, contact their parents, set up conferences of student care and so forth. Absence will inevitably impinge on all teachers’ daily work, but to what extent will of course vary from one class to another. There are of course also different reasons for students’ absence. Students can be ill, have legitimate

absence or be playing truant. The latter case adds to the perspectives on absence. But in either of these cases, they are absent and my main interest is to find out how students’ absence affects teachers’ daily work.

1.1 Purpose

Fortunately most students are present but some are not and teachers have to solve the dilemmas in the wake of absence. Teaching English at upper secondary level to absent students is obviously a challenge. The Swedish National Agency for Education does not state anything about attendance in relation to assessing or as a condition for meeting the objectives.

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Here is a contradiction, however, since teachers cannot assess students who are absent. Absence is a dilemma and a problem to all teachers and to language teachers in particular since the communicative teaching and learning presuppose attendance. As a future English teacher I find it interesting to look into some language teachers’ views on the issue and investigate how they handle everyday situations in relation to absence. To reach this aim I pose the following research questions:

• What are the teachers’ views on students’ absence and truancy? • How do teachers handle every-day situations in relation to absence? • How does absence affect teachers’ workload?

2 Background

Even if upper secondary school is a non-compulsory school form, once you are accepted at a program, school attendance is compulsory. There are rules and policies for absence at both the official and at the local level. These are documents and policies that all teachers have to follow in their reports on absent students.

2.1 Official Policies and Documents

One might believe the steering documents to be the main documents for regulations about absence, but they are quite evasive about absence and you have to read between the lines for guidance. The Swedish National Agency for Education and the Swedish National Board of Student Aid are the authorities with the most direct regulations for absence beside the local policy.

The Swedish National Agency for Education states that attendance may not influence grading. Absence is under these circumstances irrelevant and not a factor to assess in the sense of

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grading. Students can only be assessed on how well they manage to meet the objectives according to the syllabi. The Swedish National Agency for Education has criticised one school (Skolverkets beslut 2004-06-14 dnr 2004:378) and one municipality (Skolverkets beslut 2004-06-14 dnr 2004:379) for reporting absence in a student’s final certificate. This kind of information in a final certificate is against the School Statute (Department of

Education 1985). Otherwise, there are no references or rules for documentation of students’ absence stated by the agency (The Swedish National Agency for Education).

Nevertheless, all upper secondary teachers spend a lot of time and effort checking and reporting absent students. The demand for reports on absence comes from the Swedish National Board of Student Aid which is the national authority responsible for the Swedish financial aid for students, for example study grants. For students to be entitled study grants, they must meet certain criteria, which include attendance. Schools have to report students with 20% absence or more because that exceeds the limit for receiving a full time study grant (The Swedish National Board of Student Aid).

The Swedish Government has commissioned the National Agency for Education and the Swedish National Board of Student Aid to inform upper secondary schools of their obligation to report students’ absence to the latter. This information cannot be new to the upper

secondary schools, it rather indicatesthat the obligation to report absence to the Swedish National Board of Student Aid is not sufficiently accomplished. Inadequate routines are a major factor, according to a report from the agency (Information om elevers frånvaro i

gymnasieskolan, Skolverket).

The curriculum for the non-compulsory school system, Lpf 94, which includes upper

secondary school, does not state any regulations about attendance. Upper secondary school is not compulsory; it is a free choice of education that you apply for. Once you are accepted to a program, school attendance becomes compulsory. However, the curriculum states that

students must take personal responsibility for their studies and working situation, and they must also take responsibility for their own learning and study results. Whether personal responsibility entails attendance is open to interpretation.

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The Upper Secondary School Ordinance does not explicitly stipulate any rules or restrictions

for absence either. But there are regulations for how to report absence and also how you apply for having time off, which implies that students are supposed to attend. Although there are regulations for how to report absence, records of students’ absence may not be registered in the final certificate.

English A is a core subject, which means that it is compulsory at the A level and at some theoretical programmes also the B level, which leaves the C level optional. The subject of English is compulsory but attendance is not. Students are only required to meet the objectives stated in the syllabus for English. However, if students are to meet the goals and the grading criteria – a high degree of attendance is essential. The course syllabus for English states that, “The school in its teaching of English should aim to ensure that pupils develop their ability to take part in conversations, discussions and negotiations and express with subtlety their own views and consider those of others”. This quotation is one example of a statement that presupposes presence.

2.2 Local Policies and Documents

The school that I am investigating has a computerized system, Presentia, for reporting absence. This system is available to all teachers by intranet and it confirms who has reported their absence. Teachers are also required to make daily reports about their students’

absence/presence and late arrivals. Presentia is designed to present statistics on a single student or a whole class. The system is for example very practical to form teachers who can get a summarized report on a student’s absence, presence, reported absence, unreported absence and late arrivals. The records hence provide useful information during for example conferences for student care or other discussions regarding the student (Presentia).

Such statistics of the students’ absence in a class is also usually brought up during class conferences. Class conferences assemble the form teacher and all teachers involved with a specific class, including the headmaster. Each and every student is brought up for discussion and the participants get the opportunity to raise any issue concerning the students.

Information, thoughts and experiences are shared and if there is any action to be taken concerning the class or a specific student, the head teacher is present to authorise any

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progression. Excessive absence is an issue that typically will be brought up during a class conference where decisions about further actions will be taken.

The decisions taken at a class conference can result in a conference of student care. It is a forum where school personnel, that is, the student social welfare staff, the form teacher, the head teacher and the student and her/his parents/guardians (voluntarily if student is of age) can meet and discuss the issue and make up a plan to change the situation.

The local work plan for the school that I am investigating does not state any general

guidelines to reduce absence. But several programmes are here explicitly addressing the issue by stating aims to reduce the number of absent students. Different approaches are suggested in order to meet the goals, and a primary strategy aims at increasing students’ motivation and sense of responsibility. Students, teachers and other school personnel are all involved in accomplishing the goals, and in addition, the school requests parental cooperation.

Parental cooperation is important to manage absence, and the school has the obligation to inform parents/guardians of student absence and what happens if the students are playing truant. But if the student is of age, the school may not contact the parents/guardians. However, information about absence is official, which means that parents/guardians have access to the information by their own initiative.

The local work plan emphasises the importance of the fundamental value system which shall

permeate all activities in schools. To emphasis the importance, this school has introduced a course for all the students. This course or project is called Life Knowledge and is based on a folder that is built up around several issues concerning life in general as well as life from a teenage perspective. It is the form teachers who are executing the lessons connected with Life

Knowledge. Important aims are to work towards a healthy social environment and solidarity in the group to increase the motivation to attend school and thereby reduce the number of absentees. In a report about students’ attendance, Susanne Häggqvist (2000) described psychosocial workload situations and concluded that the psychosocial work environment contributed to a considerable amount of the causes of absence from school. Furthermore she stated that students should be given influence and be involved and acknowledged as a resource when improving the school environment. These suggestions are consistent with the project of Life Knowledge.

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In addition to the strategy to motivate the students to attend school, management in cooperation with the welfare officer has stated a policy for absence. The main point states obligatory attendance at all scheduled lessons and activities. Additionally, all absences should be reported. Furthermore, the school will inform students and their parents/guardians about the rules of attendance at the beginning of school year. Parents/guardians will be contacted by the form teacher if the student is absent without notice. If repeated absences occur, reported or not, the form teacher will inform the parents/guardians. All parents/guardians will get a report of students’ attendance every semester. The student will get an oral warning from the teacher if unreported absences reoccur and the parents/guardians will by that time be informed in writing. If the attendance does not meet the criteria for full time studies, the student will be reported to the Swedish National Board of Student Aid, which might lead to a withdrawal of the study grants.

3 Methods

This investigation aims at exploring how teachers’ daily work is affected by student absence. I chose to investigate the situation from the teachers’ perspective. The method used to achieve the participants’ perspective was by conducting qualitative research, which aims to capture the world as it is perceived from those living in it (Hatch 2002).

3.1 Location of the Research

The location for my investigation was at an upper secondary school in a small town in a rural district in the North east of Scania. The municipality has about 16000 inhabitants. Transport is one of the main businesses in the area and there is also an old tradition of paper industry. The average income and the level of education are both below the average of Sweden.

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Many students come from different districts that belong to the region which means that they have to travel to school every day. The school has about 1650 pupils at 15 different

programmes.

3.2 Selecting Participants

My research was carried out at an upper secondary school which also is the school where I have had my teaching practice. I had no particular criteria for selecting a school for my investigation and since this school was available as well as accommodating, which are two essential conditions, it was an obvious choice to make.

During the periods of teaching practice I have experienced that teachers at this school spend a lot of time discussing issues concerning students’ absence. The subject of physical education was the most affected subject by absence, but since I am studying to become a teacher of English I found it more relevant for me to focus the research on English.

To select who to interview is a matter of who you believe will make good informants, are available and will agree to be interviewed (Hatch 2002 p 97). The informants were randomly chosen, apart from that all were teachers of modern languages, which was a criterion for the aim of my research. One male and three female teachers were interviewed. To take this research further one could interview teachers from another school for an additional perspective.

3.3 Collecting Data

Qualitative research aims at exploring the participants’ perspectives and I have used

interviews as means for my data collection. I decided on doing formal interviews, which also are also called structured interviews, meaning the researcher is leading the interviews, a time is set and most often the interviews are being recorded. Although, formal interviews are structured, a certain amount of flexibility is built into the interviews. The questions are open to follow the leads of the informants that arise during the interview interaction (Hatch 2002).

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I designed guiding questions (Appendix p22) which should work as a guide through the conversation that I anticipated would take place. My questions were built from the purpose of my research and from experiences and situations during my teaching practice (Hatch 2002 p 101). I tried to avoid why-questions since they can have negative connotations and instead I focused on descriptive and structural formulations to get the informants to talk and describe their point of view on the issue. The questions should be neutral not to lead the informants to certain answers. However, no questions are completely neutral since just asking a question tells the informant that the researcher finds the issue important and interesting enough to ask about it. To make the situation as comfortable as possible and to make the interview

conversation resemble any other social talk I started off with some small talk and rounded up with a closure question to indicate that the interview was about to end (Hatch 2002).

3.4 Procedures

The teachers were informed about the purpose of the interview and what it was about and after that they were guaranteed anonymity of their names and the school. The times for the interviews were set when it was most suitable for the teachers, for example during a longer lunch hour. At the times for the interviews I met with the teachers’ in there common-room were the small talk began on our way to the locations for the interviews. I booked smaller group-rooms and made sure there was coffee to offer. All the interviews were recorded so that I could give attention to the conversation without having to take notes at the same time. The interviews were carried out individually and in a location where we could not be overheard or interrupted. After the interviews were finished I thanked the teachers for their cooperation and help (Hatch 2002 p 107).

3.5 Analysing Process

After all data was collected I began transcribing the interviews from the tapes. When the interviewees are quoted or referred to, their identities are hidden behind the letters A to D and I have translated the quotes into English. As all data was on paper it was divided into

categories by marking entries that fitted the themes that I had in my material. The different groupings of the data were separated in different categories which correlated with my research questions (Hatch 2002 p 152 ff). Firstly, by statements the informants expressed concerning

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their views and thoughts on absence in general and on truancy in particular. Secondly, by the strategies the informants followed in order to reduce the number of absences and finally, by statements concerning the effect non-attendance had on the teachers’ workload.

3.6 Trustworthiness

A qualitative research implies that there is no objectivity and the all qualitative work starts with the assumption that social settings are unique and complex. The data collected in this research represents the voices of the participants, which means that it relies on subjective interpretations. According to Hatch it is vital to use interviewing when your research aims at capturing the participants’ perspective (Hatch 2002 p 9, 97). Since the aim for my

investigation was to capture the informants’ perspective I have used interviews. The method relies on subjectivity but I am not aiming at discovering any truths, rather exploring my question from the participants’ point of view.

I presented what the interview was about when asking for permission to do the interview. The trustworthiness of the answers might have been affected by the preceding information about the issue but if it increased or decreased the trustworthiness, is hard to say. The reasons for doing it was because, firstly, it takes some of the tension away from the interviewee when s/he knows what kind of questions will be asked, and secondly, the interviewees know what they agree to do. Finally, the subject might not be something the interviewees normally reflect over and thus they need time for reflection.

Another aspect, to take into consideration, is the trustworthiness of interviews as a method. To what extent can the answers be considered trustworthy? I am also considering whether the replies correspond to reality. Do we do what we say we do and vice versa? The results of the interviews can of course also be affected by the choice of questions and by the question not asked. However, my goal was not to establish any truths by this research, rather to explore and exemplify how teachers of modern languages at this school are affected by students’ absence.

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4 Results

I have interviewed four teachers about their views of truancy, how they try to prevent it and about their daily work related to absence. These are the questions I wanted to investigate and thus make the structure for the main categories in the results under which subgroups

concerning the categories have been added.

The interviews, which I have used to collect the data, were performed in Swedish but I have translated all quotes into English for a more fluent reading. Before the results, this chapter starts by introducing the informants and giving them a short presentation.

4.1 Portraits of the Teachers

The four teachers’ views on absence and absence related issues have proved to be quite unanimous. They were all teachers of modern languages at an upper secondary school and colleagues, which might have influenced their common views. All agreed that absence affected their daily work and added to their workload. To what extent it was affected was primarily a matter of different conditions and circumstances in the classes they taught and/or were form teachers for. Even so, their common opinion was that absence in general was a serious problem.

Teacher A has worked at another school before and sees a higher level of absence at this school. It was primarily in her/his big classes that there were many absences. Teacher A believes that since there are so many students in the big groups, they might think that their absence does not become that obvious. S/he does not want to chase absent students since it is their own responsibility to be present. “They are supposed to be adults and I do not want to take that responsibility for them.” Teacher A would like to see more assistance from, for example, the welfare officer, or other personnel who are trained for such matters. According to teacher A, this would give the teachers more time for teaching the attending students, which is what teachers have been trained for.

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Teacher B has worked at a secondary school before and, just like teacher A, saw a higher level of absence at this upper secondary school. However, it might be an issue that also has changed over time because, as B stated, “students of today have another view than adults have of what are legitimate reasons for being absent”. On the other hand, teacher B had opposite experiences of the amount of absence due to the size of the groups. The students in B’s small groups were often absent. This became very apparent in an already tiny group. But, even if it becomes very obvious that someone is absent in such a small group, the informant

experienced that it did not prevent the students from being absent.

Teacher C was a form a teacher for a class with a very reasonable level of absence and all absences had so far been reported in to the school office in advance by the students. C pointed out that the effect of absence was highly dependent on which student was absent. S/he

explained that, “If it is an ambitious student who has been absent that student can come next day and say: ‘Hi, I called a friend so I know what to do and I have done it as well.’

Unfortunately, it does not happen very often, but it does happen.” Teacher C was worried that if more students used the opportunity to take the examination for a subject earlier, there was a risk that there would be more truancy as a result of more spare time between lessons, which tempted students to go home earlier.

Teacher D was the form teacher in a class with excessive absence which mostly was caused by truancy. All D’senergy focused on this issue. The main reason for this situation, according to D, was low motivation and consequently the students could not find any reason to attend. On the other hand, there did not seem to be any other place for them to be at the moment. D did not believe you could prevent absence since there were so many different reasons for not attending. But D tried to make the students feel that it was important and fun to be in school and strived to create a feeling of belonging within the class.

4.2 Teachers’ Views on Issues Causing Truancy

Absence to a certain degree is of course unavoidable. Students can be ill or have other legitimate reasons for not attending. However, a lot of absence is caused by truancy. At this school the teachers explained that they found some of the students’ social situation and lack of responsibility as reasons for truancy.

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4.2.1 The Domestic Situation

A common reason for excessive absence and truancy at the school for my research was according to teacher A, stressful domestic situations. A lot of students have had bad

experiences in life and their home situation was not helping them to attend more frequently in school. Teacher D, who was form teacher for a class with particularly high absence, also expressed students’ lack of motivation to attend school as a consequence of their domestic situation. “Most of all, they are so unmotivated and do not know what they want. They are already worn down, only sixteen years old. They have been through too much, had too many bad experiences that they should really not be here, but there is really no other place for them, we need to find some way for them” (teacher D).

The fact that some students had had bad, and sometimes traumatic, experiences in life made the teachers unsure of how much work and demands the students could handle. Teacher B said that:“sometimes you demand too much of some students who have social problems. But when you find out, you realise why they are absent so much”. The teachers expressed a frustration over the situation. They empathized with the students’ situation which often made it difficult for them to carry out their school work.

4.2.2 The Social Situation in School

As the teachers stated above, the students’ social situation affected the amount of absence. Further, excessive absence turned out to have affects on the social atmosphere in the

classroom as well, which teacher D was aware of and stated:”Students do not seem to realize that their absence affects the classroom situation even when they are not there.” The teacher experienced a high amount of absence as demoralizing to the rest of the class and continued, “it is going to be worse for the rest of the class too because they do not realize that their absence affects, but it does and it affects everybody and everything around you”. These affects were obvious to the other informants too. Excessive absence excluded the absentees from the social groupings which made it difficult for the absentees to come back. ”You see that there are formations between those who are there - and if you do not find your group and then you are not there and come back, there is no group to belong to.” This was teacher B’s experience and teacher C continued,“When the students actually are there they are sitting by themselves, which increases their resistance to come.”

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However, the contrary can also be the scenario, according to teacher B. Inclusion in a group did not always result in attendance but it could also work as a magnet for truancy. “When A is gone so is B. You can see that when you check attendance lists. Yes, okay – these two are hanging out together and they were both absent from the math lesson. Well, they did not get a headache the same afternoon – both of them – did they?” If it was not for student A, student B would not be absent and vice versa. It was common among students to give anybody or everybody the blame for what they had or had not done. Students’ view of responsibility appeared to be an overall issue according to all interviewed teachers.

The informants explained that this school was aiming to improve the social atmosphere by a project called, Life Knowledge. The form teachers were executing the lessons for the project but commented that the students who mostly needed to attend were often absent.

4.2.3 Lack of Responsibility

Naturally, the teachers had students who had genuine and serious reasons for, for example, not having done their homework because they had been absent previous lesson. But, it could also become an issue as there was a discrepancy between what the students and the teachers regarded as a legitimate reasons. Because, according to the teachers, in many cases the students had the possibility to ask peers about their homework or call or send an e-mail to their teacher for help. The informants reacted to some of the explanations given by the

students as teacher A said: “They make up hundreds of reasons for not having to be here. The cat is ill or grandmother’s brother’s cousin is ill”.

Furthermore, the teachers said that it was often an issue whether the students were motivated enough to take responsibility or even were able to take responsibility for their school work. “If they have been ill they find it legitimate not having done their homework and if they have free time between lessons it becomes legitimate to catch an earlier bus home”. It was common knowledge among the informants that some students were playing truant at certain hours:

They are often absent in the mornings. Some have difficulties to get up in the mornings. If it is late in the afternoon you are tired and have gone home because you have a headache or something. If you have had free time before a lesson that you are going to have in the afternoon you are likely to go home. Such matters influence.

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Students at an upper secondary school are between sixteen and twenty years old which means that some of the students are of age and thereby considered to be adults. However, according to teacher B, turning eighteen does not automatically make the students responsible

individuals, and stated: “We often ask the students to take responsibility but they say that they cannot. At the same time there are students who are of age and then they have to take

responsibility”.

Fortunately, there are a lot of students who take responsibility for their studies. Furthermore, a certain amount of absence is unavoidable. English teachers teach students from different classes and programmes which means that these students sometimes are assigned other programme specific activities, which are part of their education. Teacher B gave credit to some of these students for taking responsibility for these kinds of situations. “They are really good at it and they know that they have to take responsibility and ask what they have to do. And they perform the assignments they get. But of course, it is still a problem.” But even when motivated and ambitious students are legitimately absent, their absence still causes inconvenience and interruptions in the classroom.

4.2.4 Summary

As stated before, all interviewees believed students’ absence was a huge problem. The main problem for a predominant part of the students with excessive absence had domestic

problems. These students did not get the support and help that they needed from home. The teachers would welcome stricter measures to limit the problem and more back-up from

welfare officers or other personnel who are trained to take care of issues in relation to students with excessive absence.

Lack of responsibility was referred to as having a major influence on the amount of truancy, from the teachers’ perspective. The students, on the other hand, perceived their reasons for being absent as legitimate and thus they were not playing truant. According to the teachers, there is a discrepancy between the students’ point of view and the teachers’.

Furthermore, low attendance in school generated new social issues. To be a student in a class means that you belong to a group but it does not automatically mean that you belong within the group. The groupings and alliances between the students in a class usually take form in the beginning of the semester and if a student is not attending regularly the formations are

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made without him/her leaving him/her outside. Excessive absence can make students

excluded from the group, with the result of further absence, because they are not feeling part of the social structure within the class.

4.3 Teachers’ Strategies for Issues Related to Truancy

Since issues in relation to absence are part of teachers’ every-day work, the informants had developed strategies to deal with them. Their strategies chiefly aimed at decreasing the amount of truancy.

4.3.1 Oral Presentations

The quality of group presentations, for example, is at risk when members of a group are absent and sometimes an absent member has vital material for the presentation. All

interviewees had experienced a high level of absence at times of oral presentations. Teacher A stated a quite straightforward strategy to handle the dilemma. “I usually force those who are present. It is their responsibility to have all papers or they just have to present what they can remember. I think there is too much pampering.” Teacher A has had positive results from implementing this strategy. Teacher A told me about one class which had huge problems attending, they just did not show up when there was going to be a presentation. In correlation with the previous statement s/he implemented a rule for all kinds of assessments: “This is the date for the assignment and this is your chance – take it or leave it. Believe it or not – all students attended. They did not object either and approved of the rule.”

4.3.2 The Rule of Not Having Re-sits

It was not only oral presentations that were subjected to a lot absence but tests and assignments in general. A common strategy by all the informants in order to reduce the truancy was a rule of not having re-sits. This rule was developed as a consequence of a lot of truancy at times for tests. Teacher C did “not have re-sits. Some take advantage of it and argue that they do not have the time this week so they postpone the test until next week instead and that is not fair to the others.” Teacher B had the same view and added: “You should not get a couple of days extra. Students react against it and do not think it is fair to those who do their duty.” The students, according to my informants, had a great sense of justice and were in favour of rules emphasising equivalence. A unanimous and unambiguous

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voice in relation to test situations, therefore, declared a rule for no re-sits. This voice came from teachers as well as from the students, according to the informants. Teacher B explained that

there are students who stay home to get a couple of extra days to study, which their peers have recognised. I have had students who have told me that they think I should stick to the set date because they have dates for other tests as well. The same goes for assignments to be handed in - the set date is what counts. You should not get a couple of days extra. The students react and do not think it is fair to those doing their job.

4.3.3 Issues Concerning Grading

Even if the interviewed teachers were against allowing a second opportunity for doing a test or an assignment, they believed that it was their responsibility to make sure that they had enough performances to base their grading on. “If someone have been absent on several occasions for tests and you think you have too little material, you have to do something about it and make a test for them” (teacher B). Especially, when students are between two grades the interviewed teachers stated that it was important to find and create opportunities for assessing and maybe do a summing up test for them. The national tests were found useful complement under these circumstances.

Teacher A stated that, “It says in the course syllabus for English that the students must take an active part in discussions, so you really have to point that out to the students. One student said that it does not say anything about attendance but indirectly it does”. To be able to assess some of the objectives in the course syllabus presupposes attendance, for example the

following quote from the syllabus: “Pupils should be able to discuss in appropriate language, different subjects and keep a discussion going. Pupils should be able to actively take part in discussions and be able to present and deal with the merits of opposing arguments”

4.3.4 Summary

For the teachers to be able to assess the objectives, stated in the syllabus for English, it is important that the students have a frequent attendance. The informants’ strategies to prevent the students from playing truant resulted in rules and restrictions regarding occasions that often had high absence. These occasions were, by the informants’ experienced at times of tests and oral presentations.

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4.4 Teachers’ Workload Due to Absence

A teacher of English, who is working full time, has about 16-17 scheduled lessons per week. Needless to say, there is work to be done preparing for the lessons and giving feedback to assignments and tests and so forth. But I have found that a considerable amount of a teacher’s work, beyond what is linked to teaching, is related to students’ absence.

4.4.1 Extra Workload

It meant extra work, according to the interviewed teachers, when students were not attending class. Whether the students were playing truant or not, did not make a major difference, since, either way the students were absent. This affected the teachers’ planning and work, as teacher C described,“You have ten things going on at the same time because you get some started on a certain task and you explain the task to some who have been absent. That is the way it is, all the time”.

The rule of not having re-sits (chapter 4.3.2) also showed to be a rule to save the teachers from too much work. As viewed before, this was an issue concerning the students’ views on equivalence and fairness. In order maintain this, the teachers have to eliminate the risk of cheating and thus make a new test. According to teacher B, it is a matter of self-preservation and that you cannot make new tests every time students are absent at times for tests.

4.4.2 Reporting Absence

The teachers added that they also spent a lot of time checking and reporting student

attendance. As stated in chapter 2, there are routines and policies regarding student attendance that the teachers have to act upon. Especially teacher D spent a lot of time and energy trying to deal with excessive truancy, which was a big issue in the class, for which teacher D was the form teacher. “Right now, all focus is on absence and unmotivated students. There is no time to do that little extra for those who actually are there.”

Furthermore, the routines for handling excessive absence and truancy are, according to the informants, too complicated and the procedure is too long. This is why nobody, as far as teacher A knew, has had their study grant reclaimed. The risk of losing your study grant is

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almost down to nothing. According to teacher C, this is a big problem because when students see that nothing happens it implies that non-attendance is legitimate.

4.4.3 Summary

Students’ absence affected the teachers’ workload in several ways and in particular when the students were absent at times for tests. The teachers thus had to make up new tests if there was going to be a re-sit. They also had to repeat what went on at other lessons that the students had not attended and this required both time and effort.

Reporting students’ absence is a duty all teachers had to carry out. The informants stated that the routines for handling excessive absence were too complicated. Being a form teacher requires extra responsibility for the students and their absence. For teacher D who was the form teacher for a class with records of excessive absence thus meant a lot of extra work.

5 Discussion and Conclusion

In this final chapter of my study I discuss the results and answer the questions posed in this research. Further, I discuss to what extent the study results are valid and trustworthy. Finally, the conclusion is presented.

5.1 Trustworthiness of the Study

This research aimed at getting a picture and an understanding of how teachers of modern languages at the school of my study perceived how their daily work was affected by students’ absence. To gain insight to the participants’ perspectives interviewing was an apt method. Although, one has to take into account that this method has its shortcomings as it implies that the results cannot be objective. Research is a field that is hard to master and naturally the results also depend on the skills of the researcher. Even so, I believe that I have been able to capture some understanding of the informants’ views of the issue. It has been very interesting

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and I believe the results are going to be helpful to me as a future teacher and I hope it will be helpful to practising teachers also. However, one should keep in mind that the results may not be representative for other schools or for teacher of other subjects since all data was collected at a single school and by interviewing four teachers of modern languages.

5.2 Discussion of the Results

From the results in the previous chapter it became quite clear that absence was a huge

problem at the school of my investigation. There were some issues that occurred prominently and frequently.

The results show that lack of responsibility, low motivation and the social situation are interlinked with truancy. To begin with, the informants reacted to some students’ lack of responsibility which often resulted in non-attendance and truancy. Secondly, they expressed their concern about some of their students’ domestic situations which they did not have the time or see themselves qualified to deal with. Finally, low attendance affected the teaching and learning situations negatively, for attending and absent students, as well as it affected the social atmosphere.

As school develops and changes, the latest steering documents have become less detailed and precise than the previous ones and offer more freedom to interpret and execute the policies of the documents. In correlation with the steering documents the teaching methods are also heading for individualisation. Students are expected to take more responsibility for their own learning to become more autonomous. Working independently, however, entails that the students can take the responsibility to work and plan on their own.

Parallel to these changes, the interviewees experienced that young people of today were not taking or rather could not take their responsibility. It had become, as they said, “legitimate” to put the blame on others as well as on unfortunate circumstances. The dilemma, as I see it, is that the school is requiring more responsibility of the students while many students of today have problems taking it. “They simply do not know how,” as teacher B said, and continued “many times we expect the students to take a lot of responsibility and many times they say

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that they cannot do it.” Many students find this hard, even under the supervision and guidance of their teachers. When they for example have been absent, they often use what the informants regard as trivial excuses for not having done their homework, or, blame various other

circumstances. These students cannot take responsibility because they do not seem to know how and/or know what is expected of them. Their real challenge is hence not to do the assignments but to ensure that it is being done. However difficult they find it, planning and taking responsibility of their work is also an objective to achieve. The grading criteria for pass, according to the syllabus for English A states that, “Pupils take responsibility for planning, carrying out, and evaluating their work, as well as using appropriate aids.”

The students’ social situation was a common reason for truancy and a high level of absence. Excessive absence proved in turn to have a negative affect on the classroom atmosphere. From a learning perspective it is important to attend and participate in the classroom, furthermore, it is important to feel comfortable in the classroom and learning situation. According to Kraschen there is an affective filter, like an imagined barrier, disturbing acquisition when a student is feeling stressed or unmotivated. Consequently, there is a lot to be gained from a good atmosphere in the classroom. If the students feel comfortable and get a feeling of belonging, there is a chance that they will choose to attend class rather than playing truant. Additionally, they get the opportunity to learn and interact with their peers. At last but not least, their affective filter will be down because of a more positive attitude. Willingness to interact and learn, and the opportunity to interact and learn, are two essential contributions to successful language learning (Lightbown and Spada 1999).

Further, the aims of the Life Knowledge project correlates with the above. But all the teachers were not all that enthusiastic about it because as one informant explained: “the students who would benefit the most from the project are not attending the lessons.” This is obviously a good point, but even so, it is just as important to create a positive atmosphere among the students who are attending.

All efforts aiming at increasing attendance are vital since, I believe classroom attendance and participation are very important. It is, for example, imperative to use English to learn it and that is why high attendance is an important issue to language teachers. The ultimate method to learn a language is in my opinion, to be exposed to the target language as much as possible. Since it is not possible to send all students to English speaking countries, we can only try to

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help the students to as much exposure to English as possible so that students can develop their knowledge in the process of verbalising their thoughts while using the target language.

Students who rarely attend and participate in the classroom do not get the chance to interact and use the language in communicative tasks, and as a consequence they miss out on good opportunities to learn.

From the teacher’s perspective it becomes difficult to observe and assess students’

development of their language use. The student needs to be present, not only once in a while, but continuously, otherwise the development cannot be spotted. Continuity is necessary or the assessment only measures the language use at the time of the assessment and not the

development over time. Furthermore, if students are rarely there it becomes difficult to triangulate the performances, that is, get the opportunities to “consider at least two (or more) performances and/or contexts before drawing a conclusion” (Brown 2004 p 117).

Since absence is such an important issue, I asked the informants for their main advice. They expressed unanimously that they did not believe in re-sits. Hence, I was quite surprised to hear that the students had been the main spokespeoplefor the idea of not allowing re-sits. They had discovered that their peers sometimes took advantage of postponing tests by not attending the test date in order to get a couple of more days to study for the re-sit instead. As a token of their sense of equality and fairness they disapproved and by their right to student democracy, they advocated no re-sits. Student influence is important since it has proved to have a positive influence on student motivation. Further, the rule in itself had a positive influence on attendance. This is confirmed by Susanne Häggqvist (2000) who states that, students should be given influence and be involved and acknowledged as a resource when improving the school environment to attain student attendance.

Everybody is entitled to be absent once in a while and when the students can take the responsibility to catch up on what has happened while they were gone, there is actually no problem. It is when the amount of absence is high that it becomes an issue. Usually, when a student have excessive absence or are playing truant the reasons behind are socially connected and the welfare officer has to be involved and assist.

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5.3 Conclusion

This study aimed at getting an understanding of how teachers of modern languages at the school of my study perceived how their daily work was affected by students’ absence and truancy. The results show that the informants viewed truancy and excessive absence as serious and common issues with a spectrum of consequences. They have generously shared their views and experiences, from which I have learned that the social situation was an

important issue in relation to excessive absence. Furthermore, the students’ difficulties to take responsibility had a negative influence on attendance. Finally, excessive absences obstructed the students to attain the objectives for the course syllabus of English and it interfered with grading. In my future profession as a teacher I will take my informants’ experiences and views into account when addressing these kinds of issues. And it is likely that I will not allow any re-sits either.

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References

Brown Douglas H.2004 Language Assessment. Principles and Classroom Practices. White Plains, NY: Longman.

Department for Education, School Statute, Constitutional text, Swedish Parliament,

http://rixlex.riksdagen.se1985:1100 2005-11-20

Hatch J. Amos 2002 Doing qualitative research in education settings. New York: State University of New York Press.

Häggqvist, Susanne.2000 Elevfrånvaro. Ett mått på skolans arbetsmiljö och elevers hälsa. Arbete och hälsa Nr 2000:7, Arbetslivsinstitutet. Stockholm:CM Gruppen

Life Knowledge, 2005, from the school of my investigation

Lightbown, Patsy M. and Spada, Nina.1999 How Languages are Learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Local work plan, 2005-2006 from the school of my investigation, Policy for absence/presence, 2005, from the school for my investigation

Presentia, 2005, a web-based program for registration of absence used at the school of my investigation.

SOU 1999 :9, Skola för bildning. www.skolverket.se 2005-11-20

The Swedish National Agency for Education, www.skolverket.se. 2005-11-15 The Swedish National Agency for Education, Course Syllabus for English,

www.skolverket.se.2005-11-15

The Swedish National Agency for Education, 2005 “Information om elevers frånvaro i gymnasieskolan”,Report,http://www.skolverket.se/sb/d/812 2005-11-20

The Swedish National Agency for Education Lpf 94, The Curriculum for the Non-compulsary

School System, www.skolverket.se 2005-11-15

The Swedish National Agency for Education, Skolverkets beslut 2004-06-14 dnr 2004:378,

www.skolverket.se 2005-11-30

The Swedish National Agency for Education, Skolverkets beslut 2004-06-14 dnr 2004:379,

The Swedish National Agency for Education, The Upper Secondary Ordinance,

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Intervjuunderlag

Hur länge har du varit anställd här? Har du undervisat på andra skolor? Jämför frånvaron.

Beskriv vad det kan innebära när många elever är frånvarande på en lektion – olika lektioner. Hur gör du?

Hur påverkar frånvarande elever klassrumsmiljön?

Kan man förutse frånvaro?

Finns det någon gemensam nämnare för en klass med hög frånvaro?

Är du klassföreståndare? Vad innebär det med hänsyn till frånvaro?

Lpo 94, styrdokumenten – är de en hjälp och stöd med hänsyn till frånvaro?

Har du en gräns för frånvaro?

Vad händer om en elev missat ett prov?

Är engelska ett utsatt ämne för frånvaro?

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Issues of Students&apos; Absence