Teacher Absenteeism in Secondary Education

Abstract

Teacher absenteeism is a serious problem for school systems. Using an existing model of attendance behavior as a guide, attitudina~ demographic, and absenteeism data from 265 secondary teachers were examined. Canonica/ correlation analysis revealed that absenteeism among teachers was significantly related to distance to work, gender, job involvement, and overall job satisfaction.Absenteeism represents a costly problem for all organizations, but none more so than for elementary and secondary school systems. Lewis (1982) estimated that over 200,000 teachers were absent from work on any given day, and according to Hill (1982), this translated into over $2 billion annually. A study of three school systems (Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York) revealed that their combined absenteeism costs were approximately $500 million per year (Lewis, 1982). These costs included wages for the absent teacher, wages for the substitute teacher, and time taken from the administrator who must contact, instruct, and evaluate substitute teachers. In addition, Skidmore (1984) found that interruptions in the continuity of the students' regular instruction contributed to lower achievement scores and increased the remedial costs of education. Concomitant problems of absenteeism result in teacher resistance to change or input, negativity, and low motivation (Ferkich & Grassi, 1987 of the research, however, has been conducted in private sector organizations, even though absenteeism is often more costly in the public sector (Winkler, 1980). The purpose of this study was to systematically examine teacher absenteeism in secondary education to determine what factors are related to the absenteeism. If researchers and practitioners know which factors are related to the absenteeism of teachers, then programs can be designed to encourage better attendance. REVIEW OF THE LITERATUREEven though research on absenteeism has been conducted for over 50 years and hundreds of articles have been written on the topic, theory development has been fragmented among a number of disciplines. Absenteeism is often explained by psychologists as a pain-avoidance mechanism (Brayfield & Crockett, 1955;Steers & Rhodes, 1978), by sociologists as a consequence of organizational socialization and prevailing absence culture (ChadwickJones, Nicholson, & Brown, 1982;Hill & Trist, 1953), and by economists as a way for employees to restore the balance of effort-reward ratios or as a way for workers to make trade-offs between labor and leisure (Allen, 1981;Gowler, 1969). Even with these theories, both Nicholson (1977) and Steers and Rhodes (1978) concluded that much of the research on absenteeism has only led to speculation and propositions applied ex post facto to case studies and vague conceptual frameworks. It seems that in many instances, empirical studies were formulated not to test a given theory but to search for absenteeism correlates among variables for which measures were available.Unfortunately, the problems associated with absenteeism research in general are also true fo...

Predictors of absenteeism among primary school teachers

“…Finally, it should also be pointed out that this study does not support the findings of Taylor (1981) who suggested that younger teachers tend to be more absent than older teachers, or Scott and Winbush (1991) who claimed that women tend to be more absent than men.…”

“…Although several studies have supported the theory of a relationship between work attitude and voluntary absence (Pellicer, 1984;Scott & Winbush, 1991), a comprehensive review of the literature shows that only 'little variation in reported correlation between absence and satisfaction can be attributed to the type of absence measure used, whether voluntary or involuntary' (Hackett & Guion, 1985, p. 355). Similar results were achieved with regard to organizational commitment (Randall, 1990).…”

“…Proponents of the individual motivations approach examine absenteeism through correlational analyses of employee job satisfaction, personal background and individual attendance patterns. Regarding job satisfaction, they find that teachers with higher levels of satisfaction tend to be absent less often (Martin & Miller, 1986;Scott & Winbush, 1991;Tanner & Warr, 1993;Hammond & Onikama, 1997). Regarding personal characteristics, the only variables found related to absenteeism were age: older workers tend to be absent more often than younger employees (Taylor, 1981), and gender: women tend to be more absent than men, because traditionally, they are more likely to stay at home with sick children (Leigh, 1983;Scott & Winbush, 1991).…”

Do Teacher Absences Impact Student Achievement? Longitudinal Evidence From One Urban School District

“…As mentioned earlier, female teachers tend to be absent more often than male teachers. Researchers have also found a positive relationship between the distance that a teacher commutes to school and rate of absence (Beavers, 1981;Bridges & Hallinan, 1978;Educational Research Service, 1980;Scott & Wimbush, 1991;Winkler, 1980). A teacher's age has also been linked to rates of absence, though this relationship is not monotonic-the youngest and the oldest teachers tending to be absent more often than teachers of intermediate ages (Bradley et al, 2007;Educational Research Service, 1980).…”

Perceptions of Organizational Ethics as Predictors of Work Absence: A Test of Alternative Absence Measures

“…Interruptions in the continuity of the students' instruction contribute to lower achievement (Woods and Montagno, 1997). Concomitant problems of absenteeism are teacher resistance to change or input, negativity, and low motivation (Scott and Wimbush, 1991). Financially, teacher absence can easily translate into direct costs to school management.…”