Student Absenteeism 345l49

Burnaz Stefania Gabriela – group 943

Student absenteeism Causes and solutions

1.Research topic Growing up and going to university gives you responsibility, but also freedom. Students finally have the freedom to choose whether or not to attend all the classes, as they will not be punished if the fail to attend courses. Let’s find together which are the causes of student absenteeism and what can be done to prevent it.

2.Data collection methods The data has been collected by conducting face to face interviews. I recorded all the materials with a video camera and put them together so I can watch them again and observe the similarities.

3.Data analysis After all the interviews have been conducted and filmed, I looked into them for a second time and noted the most important information. I observed my respondents answers and I organized them by the similarities and the differences found. 4. Research questions What are the main causes of students absenteeism? How do students think the rate of absenteeism can be influenced?

Burnaz Stefania Gabriela – group 943

5.Interview questions 1. How frequently do you miss classes? Could you tell me some of the motives that influence you to skip classes? 2. Do you think the attitude of the teacher towards students influences the attendance at a course? Can you give me some examples? 3. From your point of view, is there anything universities could do to encourage students to increase their attendance? 4. Does going to university gives you the chance to develop skills you wouldn’t be able to develop otherwise? How? 5. Does the attendance to a class affect the results in a final exam? 6. Would you increase your attendance if it was mandatory?

6.Respondent profile All the people interviewed were aged 18 and above. I chose 12 students from 3 different universities: The Faculty of Applied Modern Languages (The Academy of Economic Studies), The Faculty of Cybernetics, Statistics and Economic Informatics (The Academy of Economic Studies) and from The Faculty of Medical Engineering (Polytechnic University). In of gender, the majority of respondents were female (≈60%).

7.Findings I have discovered some of the main reasons why students fail to attend courses, in this way increasing the rate of absenteeism. I will now continue by listing the main problems i came across. Attendance The average rate of attendance for the students interviewed was of 7 out of 10. The factors that influenced our respondents attendance were: - The attitude of the teacher

Burnaz Stefania Gabriela – group 943

- The university environment - The quality of the subject (the subject is not interesting) Teacher A majority of the respondents ( 10 out of 12) explained me why the teacher has a big impact on a student’s interest in a certain subject. They observed that the teachers who also show interest in the course they teach have a bigger attendance from students. They gave me some examples of what being a good teacher means: - to have an interactive course - to come with prepared materials to class - to try to understand his students and try to see the best in them - to reward his students when they come with a good idea The teachers that give no interest in teaching their subject have a low attendance rate, sometimes close to 0. As an example, we can talk about the students from Applied Modern Languages Faculties. One of the respondents told me that they had a teacher that was always late to classes and after she came, she did no attendance list and she did not reward the students for having an active participation during the course. So this pushed them to skip that class and there were times when the classroom was empty. Effect of absenteeism I wanted to find out whether students believed absenteeism affects them in a negative way or it has no influence in their lifes. 50% of the respondents stated that missing classes can make your job harder in school, while the other half believed they could recover the information they lost on the go. Skills 9 out of 12 students told me they are going to university because this represents a chance for them to develop skills

Burnaz Stefania Gabriela – group 943

for free. The skills mentioned included: teamwork, creativity, critical thinking and working under pressure. One of the respondents said: “I am currently unemployed. I have been thinking about getting a job, but I think going to university is like a job for students. You get to develop the same skills. The only difference is that in university, you will not lose your job if you discover you are not good for a certain skill. You are allowed to make mistakes.” The other quarter of respondents believe that it’s better to develop their skills by getting a job because they will also get paid for it.

8.Discussions and conclusions The aim of this research was to find out the reasons of absenteeism and some solutions from the point of view of students. This paper showed that the main reason of absenteeism is the way in which teachers organize their courses. 3 out of 12 interviewed students were employed and what is interesting is that, when asked whether the job prevents them from going to courses, none of them responded affirmative. One of the respondents said: “I went to this university because I chose it. Is what I liked best. University is not somewhere you go because you have to, it’s a place you go because you want to develop yourself and your skills. But honestly, if the teacher doesn’t show me that she likes the subject she is teaching, how can I be interested in learning it?” Last but not least, the students interviewed were asked to give me some solutions (from their point of view) that would decrease the rate of absenteeism and this is what they came with: - Rewarding students for coming to school

Burnaz Stefania Gabriela – group 943

- Discussing materials that are interesting both for the student and the teacher - Giving real life examples when explaining concepts - Develop the educational environment - Creating a more friendly relation between students and teachers