MANAGING ABSENTEEISM AMONG TEACHERS

By : Muhamad Izzwandy Bin Mamat

(Master Of Public Administration USM, PSM 0081/09)

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Teacher absenteeism has figured prominently as the culprit in the wastage of education

investments. A local daily newspaper, Daily Express dated 20th April 2006 published a report on

absenteeism which is the main disciplinary problem affecting the Federal civil service. The

Public Service Commission (PSC) of Malaysia Secretary, Mohd Yasin bin Mohd Salleh said that

the General Orders terms absenteeism in the public sector as being absent from work without

leave or permission or without giving any valid reason and there are many types of misconduct

stated in the General Orders where disciplinary action can be taken by the disciplinary board of

the respective Federal departments and agencies. He also said that the most common one is

disappearing from the workplace without applying for any leave or getting permission or without

good reasons.

To overcome this problem, he said that the first move is to issue advice and guidance

either orally or in writing to the teacher. And if the preliminary steps are ignored, action will be

taken against the person concerned. Issuing warning will be the first step followed by imposing

fines, revoking salary rights, withholding salary increment, salary reduction, demotion, and

dismissal.

Teacher absenteeism was rampant in Sabah's rural schools and there was no action had

been taken against the teachers involved. Numerous reports were received from parents of

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students in rural schools that many teachers including principals are absent from classes for

weeks in a given month. The explanation given by the teachers was that they had to attend

meetings in the towns but the problem continues for months. Government and the Ministry of

Education need to solve the issue once and for all in order to improve the conditions of rural

school.

INTRODUCTION

Rates of employee absences and the effects of absences on productivity are topics of

conversation in many organizations. One reason is that high rates of employee absence may

signal weak management and poor labor-management relations. In the education sphere,

employee absenteeism is a special problem, not only in terms of the cost to the school (payment

to substitute teachers) but also the wasted education-time that is liable to impair the sense of

confidence that the general public has in the schools.

Students may eventually lose their desire to learn if the regular teacher is frequently

absent and the curriculum is delivered by an array of substitute teachers. In essence, teacher

absenteeism has important implications for school reform, teacher training, educational

leadership, and issues related to social justice aimed at promoting equity and excellence in the

schools (Bruno, 2002).

Teachers who take time off from work, due to sickness, present problems for school

principals, who must arrange for their work to be covered. Their absence has an impact on

students and other teachers, as well as on the funds available to schools (Bowers, 2001). Teacher

absenteeism is related both to student absenteeism and achievement. When a qualified educator

is away from the classroom, student achievement is negatively affected. Teachers are the

educational leaders in the classroom, and their roles cannot be compromised (Whitaker, 2001).

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DEFINITION OF ABSENTEEISM

There are many variations to the definition of absenteeism. Defining absenteeism has not

changed much in recent years and one simple definition that is being used is that of

organizationally excused versus organizationally unexcused absences (Blau, 1985). The

definitions of excused absence include categories such as personal sickness, jury duty, religious

holidays, and funeral leave and transportation problems. Meanwhile, the unexcused absence

meaning absenteeism without an official or recognized (excused) reason, that occurs when an

employee fails to provide a satisfactory explanation for the absenteeism, or gives no reason at all

(Walfin, 1981). Below are the working definitions of absenteeism:

• Based on Martocchio & Jimeno (2003), Absence constitutes a single day of

missed work.

• Absence occurs whenever a person chooses to allocate time to activities that

compete with scheduled work, either to satisfy the waxing and waning of

underlying motivational rhythms (Fichman, 1984), or to maximize personal utility

(Chelius, 1981).

• An individual’s lack of physical presence at a given location and time when there

is a social expectation for him or her to be there (Martocchio & Harrison, 1993).

• Absenteeism refers to the non-attendance of employees for scheduled work

(Gibsson, 1966; John, 1978; Jones, 1971).

• Hill and Thrist (1953; 1962) contributed a theory of absence as withdrawal from

the stress of work situations, claiming as evidence for this proposition certain

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patterns of absence and accident rates recorded over a four-year period in a large

steel company.

Based on Chadwick-Jones, Brown, Nicholson, and Sheppard (1971), there are seven

indices of absenteeism were used namely:

1. Absence frequency;

2. Attitudinal absence;

3. Other reasons – number of days in a week for any reason other than holidays, rest days,

and certified sickness;

4. Worst day – difference score between number of individuals absent on any week’s ‘best’

and ‘worst’ days;

5. Time lost – number of days lost in a week for any reason other than leave;

6. Lateness – number of instances of tardiness in any week;

7. Blue Monday – number of individuals absent on a Monday minus number of individual

absent on Friday of any week.

OBJECTIVES

This research was done base on true experience as a teacher who are being placed in one

of the school in Penang Island. Below are the objectives of this study:

(a) To understand the phenomena of work absenteeism among teacher

(b) To relate the factors contribute to teacher absenteeism

(c) To investigate the impact of teacher absenteeism

(d) To discuss the solution and how to manage teacher absenteeism

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Teacher absenteeism is a serious problem for school systems. According to Eby &

Freeman (1999), low commitment resulted in higher absenteeism rate. When employees are

absent, employers have to bear the costs associated with absenteeism at the workplace.

According to Zakaria (1988), absenteeism can be dysfunctional and financially costly. Firstly, it

could upset and disrupt the daily operations of an affected unit or organization. Then,

organizations have to bear the extensive cost of absenteeism, which includes both direct and

indirect cost such as lost of productivity, use of contingent workers, and overtime cost.

Although, there is no estimate on the cost implications of absenteeism in the educational

field in Malaysia, however, when teachers are absent from work, not only are replacement

teachers sought but these teachers have to be burdened with the workload of the absent teachers.

Problems also arise when the replacement teachers are not skilled or unfamiliar with the subject

taught giving rise to frustrations on the part of the students and the teachers concerned.

Eventually, they felt angry, exhausted and stressed giving rise to lower motivation, increased job

dissatisfaction and poor job performance. Thus, this kind of escape-avoidance behavior would

not be beneficial to any profession.

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ORIGINS OF ABSENTEEISM

Harrison and Martocchio (1998) indicated five loosely defined classes of variable hypothesized

to be origins of absence which are:

a) Personality

Porter and Steers (1973) proposed that employees with extreme levels of emotional

instability, anxiety, low achievement orientation, aggression, independence, and

sociability were likely to be the most frequent absentees.

b) Demographics

The demographic variables were gender, age, tenure, education level and family

characteristics. The individual’s demographic characteristic (personal factors, family

characteristics) indirectly influence absenteeism through sets of medial variables such as

expectations and job satisfaction and proximal constructs which is attendance motivation

and ability to attend.

c) Attitudes

The main conceptual paradigm for absenteeism was to treat absence taking as individual-

level avoidance or withdrawal from a disliked work situation (Harison & Martocchio,

1998). However, Steers and Rhodes (1978) predicted that the effects of all other job-

related and organizational variables on absence would work their way through job

satisfaction.

d) Social contact

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The influence of social context on absence is embodied in their conception of an absence

culture which is defined as “the set of shared understanding about absence legitimacy and

the established ‘custom and practice’ of employee absence behavior and its control”.

There are two factors shape absence cultures: (a) the values and beliefs of the larger

society and its subcultures, and (b) the unique set of beliefs bout shared by virtue of

membership in an organization.

e) Decision-making

Researchers have depicted absence as the result of a daily choice process. Employees are

assumed to make work attendance decisions in a way that strives toward utility

maximization, making themselves as happy as possible, given finite resources of time and

money (Ehrensberg & Smith, 1985).

CORRELATES OF TEACHER ABSENCE

What factors are correlated with teacher absence?

I. Teacher Characteristics

In our country, salaries are highly correlated with the teacher’s age, experience,

educational background, and rank such as head teacher status. Previous research reported that

there is little evidence to suggest that higher salaries are significantly associated with lower

absence. Head teachers are significantly more likely to be absent, and point estimates suggest

better-educated and older teachers are on average absent more often. The coefficients on teacher

characteristics suggest that along a number of dimensions, more powerful teachers are absent

more. Men are absent more often than women, and head teachers are absent more often than

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regular teachers. In a number of cases, better-educated teachers appear to be absent more. These

teachers may be less subject to monitoring.

Theoretically, teachers from the local area might be absent less, because they care more

about their students or are easier to monitor, or absent more because they have more outside

opportunities and are harder to discipline with sanctions. Empirically, the previous research

found that teachers who were born in the district of the school are more likely to show up for

work. Local teachers are less likely to be absent and the coefficient for the combined sample is

also significantly negative.

II. School Characteristics

Working conditions can affect incentives to attend school, even where receipt of salary is

independent of attendance and hence provides no such incentive. School environment also

affects absences; elementary schools, larger schools, and higher-poverty schools tend to have

higher teacher absence rates. The size of a workplace seems to matter outside of education, too,

and researchers believe that the extent of interdependence among workers, which falls with the

size of a workplace, explains this relationship. And teachers are more likely to have more

absences if their colleagues are absent more often.

The lower teacher absence rate provides support for the idea that monitoring could affect

absence. For example, the intensity of administrative oversight by Ministry of Education officials

will give effect to the teacher attendance. Based on the previous study, it is proven that the

schools which are closer to a Ministry of Education office have significantly lower absence.

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King and Ozler (2001) suggested that local control of schools may be associated with

better performance by teachers. One measure of the degree of community involvement in the

schools is the activity level of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA).

FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO TEACHER ABSENCE

Why are teachers absent?

There are various reasons given for teacher absence. Prominent stated reasons

include teacher participation in educational workshops, in-service

training sometimes lasting for several weeks, personal problems,

traveling to administrative centers for salary compensation, and

casual leave. Pregnancy and housework may affect female teachers.

Sometimes the absences were due to teachers having to perform official duties away

from the school. For example in South Asian, teachers who are pulled away from classrooms to

take part in all sorts of government duties ranging from helping to conduct population census to

immunization campaigns, to assisting local politicians in various capacities. Regarding the issue

of being away “on official-leave”, even if these teachers are genuine on leave; it is surprising that

so many teachers would be on leave while school was in session.

Some research links poor physical school conditions to

absenteeism. Another aspect of absenteeism is refusal to take up

postings in desirable locations. For example, a significant number of

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newly trained teachers every year refuse posting to rural schools, and many

of those who accept eventually will ask for a transfer to urban schools or quit

teaching.

Besides, work related stress is a major cause of occupational ill-health that may cause

sickness absence, high turnover and poor performance in school. The personal illness was not

the foremost reasons used when calling in sick. Family issues headed the list of all unscheduled

absence, followed by personal illness and personal needs. Moreover, teachers who engage in

private tutoring as a side occupation are less likely to be absent. This might reflect the fact that

teachers might be using class time to recruit clients for their private sessions.

However, the stated causes for teacher absenteeism often make the

fact that the institutional environment does not really require teachers’

constant presence. At the root are limited authority by schools, lack of

interest in enforcing sanctions, and the lack of parental involvement.

Absenteeism is often lower among female teachers, among teachers born in

the district where the school is located, among teachers who work in schools with

better infrastructure, and among teachers of children whose parents are more

literate. However, few studies have explicitly explored the linkages between

accountability and absenteeism.

Occupational stress has a more significance on the teachers’ professionalism, Stress level

among technical teachers in technical schools in three states, which are Johor, Malacca, and

Negeri Sembilan, there were five teacher stress sources that included in this study: pupil

misbehavior, teacher workload, time and resources difficulties, interpersonal relationships, and

recognition. Stress is one of the major factors contribute to teacher absenteeism.

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IMPACT OF TEACHER ABSENTEEISM

The impact is educationally significant. Research shows that teachers are the most

important factor determining student achievement. Teachers’ absences affect student learning.

Teams of researchers from Duke and Harvard found that teacher absences significantly reduce

student achievement. To put the detrimental effects of teacher absence in terms of the well-

documented relationship between initial teaching experience and effectiveness, every 10

absences achievement lowers mathematics achievement by the same amount as having a teacher

with one year to two years of experience instead of a teacher with three years to five years of

experience.

Teacher absences hinder learning in important ways. Substitute teachers or relief teachers

are less qualified, on average, than regular teachers. In fact, most of the substitute teachers do not

require a bachelor’s degree. When the regular teacher is absent, academic instruction is almost

simply less intense. In fairness, substitutes are often constrained by low expectations and weak

organization on the part of the regular teacher.

Other problem is, when teachers are absent from work, not only are replacement teachers

sought but these teachers have to be burdened with the workload of the absent teachers.

Problems also arise when the replacement teachers are not skilled or unfamiliar with the subject

taught giving rise to frustrations on the part of the students and the teachers concerned.

Other teacher or relief teacher also busy with their subject or work and they are not able

to give full attention to the replacement class. Sometimes the relief teacher just come to the class

and monitors the class but not teaching. On the other hand, when there are no sufficient teachers

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at that moment, the class will be abandon and any unwanted thing and tragedy can happen inside

the class such as bullying, out of control, vandalism, fighting and truancy problem.

Teacher absences also disrupt the routines and relationships that support learning. A

teacher may need to reallocate instructional time to review classroom rules and procedures upon

returning from an absence, perhaps in addition to having to perform a full re-teaching of the

lesson that was meant to occur on the day of the absence.

MANAGING TEACHER ABSENTEEISM

Teacher absenteeism is not a healthy practice and steps should be taken to manage it

effectively. There are few steps of keeping absenteeism to a minimum.

• Increase salary: Salary increases may improve teacher attendance. Thus, they

may no longer have to work part-time or engaging in private tutoring as a side

occupation and are not being burdened with the workload, exhausted and stressed

which eventually giving rise to lower motivation and poor job performance.

• Motivation: Keeping the teacher motivated and try making the school a fun place

to work is of the best way to encourage the teacher and reduce absenteeism.

• Rewards or incentives schemes: Combinations of incentives could reduce levels

of teacher absence enough to pay for themselves. Teachers in Aldine, Texas, for

example, receive a bonus for excellent attendance record over a school year,

defined as two or fewer days of absence.

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• Create an Absenteeism Policy: Teachers respond to changes in absence-control

policies. For example, teachers who are required to report absences directly to

their principal by telephone are absent less often than teachers using impersonal

reporting systems. These insights show that while the causes are multi-

dimensional, policymakers do have the power to reduce absence rates.

• Introduce a co-payment scheme: In America, teachers have to pay co-payments

for absences over and above the standard allocation, suggests that a more

complete implementation of co-payments could reduce students’ exposure to

teacher absences without costing districts more and without taking money out of

the average teacher’s pocket.

• Bonuses: Teachers are also absent less often when bonuses are given for

exceptionally high attendance or schemes in which districts buy back unused sick

leave are available.

• Counseling: The headmaster or the counselor should concern about the teacher at

the school especially those who are more often absent from work. They also

should give attention to all teachers in the school. These approaches can help the

school management solve the problem.

CONCLUSION

Teacher absences can cause financial difficulties. There is no easy solution to the

problem of supply cover costs, but more effective management can reduce negative impacts.

Absenteeism also a series issue that requires immediate attention by teacher, headmaster and

school management. Besides, new approach and improved policies around absence could reduce

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students’ exposure to teacher absences while generating a net savings for employers. Teacher

absences also have a negative effect on student achievement.

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