Abstract
This study presents a comprehensive investigation of the effects of students’ attendance on the level of academic accomplishment students obtain. Absenteeism, truancy, inadequate transportation, and the socioeconomic state of students’ family backgrounds are just a few of the reasons for low attendance, although the list is not exhaustive. The research examines various approaches that could be taken, including implementing intervention programs to enhance awareness of the importance of regular school attendance.
Teachers have a significant influence on the level of attendance that pupils maintain. They accomplish this by being aware of the elements that could cause them to lose motivation, which inspires them. The study examines how a student’s attitude and disdain for the academic institution contribute to a negative attitude towards class attendance. Numerous studies examined for this research reveal a connection between education and religion. Religion has a positive impact on building determination, which helps individuals grow in their enthusiasm for education and increase their punctuality in school attendance, thereby significantly enhancing their academic achievement.
Introduction
Students have a significantly better chance of achieving their academic goals if they attend school consistently and maintain regular attendance records. Therefore, students must make their best effort to be present in class. When many students are chronically absent from class, it is challenging for both teachers and students to make progress and acquire new skills.
Students who are chronically absent from school have a significantly increased risk of getting into legal trouble and causing disruptions in the communities in which they live. Additionally, children will experience a decline in their overall academic performance. Not only does a student’s attendance affect them, but it also affects the teachers who teach them. When teachers fail to appear for class or skip a portion of the allotted instructional time, it has a detrimental effect on the academic performance of their students.
On the other hand, students are primarily responsible for the success or failure of their academic endeavors. Students can account for all factors contributing to their academic success if they maintain an accurate attendance record in class. Attendance has been shown to impact a student’s capacity for academic success, and this is true not only for learners who receive their education in traditional classroom settings but also for those who receive their education online.
The emergence of the phenomenon known as “virtual learning” is directly linked to technological advancements. The existence of destructive factors, such as internet gaming and exposure to harmful content, that influence their behavior and lead to truancy among learners has a detrimental impact on the academic achievement of these students. The presence of these destructors has an impact on the attendance rate.
It is essential to maintain a high rate of student attendance because consistent school attendance is closely linked to a student’s academic performance and achievement. It makes it essential to have a high rate of student attendance. Rocque et al. (2016) and Fadelelmoula (2018) found that when a significant portion of students enrolled in a class are chronically absent, it becomes more difficult for the instructor and the remaining students to improve their skills. Regarding children’s education, the importance of maintaining consistent attendance and working efficiently to complete their assignments cannot be overstated.
Students who are regularly absent from class miss out on a significant amount of information and impede the ordinary course of their educational experience. Students who miss school for no apparent reason often lack the motivation to complete the work they had planned to finish while absent (Gubbels et al., 2019). Children will be better prepared for the jobs they will have in the future if they have the opportunity to practice punctuality while still in school. They will not only be able to demonstrate that they can be relied on by showing up on time for work, but it will also help them earn a living for themselves and their family. They will be able to demonstrate that they can be counted on by showing up on time for work.
Meaningful learning will be utilized in this study because it connects the knowledge of prior students, potentially effective teaching content, and a student’s motivation to acquire new information. Meaningful learning is a successful approach in a formal educational setting because it involves integrating new and relevant old knowledge in a manner that is neither indiscriminate nor explicit.
Definitions
- Attendance – Attendance is participation in any regular accredited educational institution or program, whether public or private, for organized learning at any level of education at the time of the census.
- Academic Success – Academic achievement is essential for those who wish to advance their careers in fields that require extensive use of technology. Academic success benefits conduct and social connections with family members and peers. Students who go on to achieve academic success develop reading, writing, and critical-thinking skills that will serve them well.
Related Literature
The advent of a phenomenon known as “virtual learning” can be directly attributed to technological progress. According to Archambault et al. (2013), the impact of attendance on a student’s academic ability is not limited to in-person learning environments; instead, it applies to students who receive their education online as well.
Numerous studies have been conducted to determine the factors that influence student performance, prompted by the financial pressures faced by the education sector (Stanca, 2006). The degree to which students participate in and attend classes is becoming increasingly essential in contemporary higher education. Previous research has demonstrated that class attendance is a significant factor in determining academic performance. Students who attend more classes have higher grade point averages (Al Shenawi et al., 2021).
Nevertheless, there are also many contrasting findings. After considering several factors, including the participants’ ages and genders, researchers in a recent study (Eisen et al., 2015) found no statistically significant relationship between regular class attendance and academic success. Alghamdi and his colleagues found that the overall absenteeism rate in Saudi Arabia was comparable to that reported in regional and international studies.
Student absenteeism refers to a period during which a student does not attend school and has become a significant and persistent problem among high school students in many countries. Indeed, a considerable number of studies have been conducted on the topic of why high school students miss class. The health of the student’s family, having a low income, attending a school with a hostile climate, using drugs or alcohol, having difficulty getting to school, and the community’s views regarding education are some of the risk factors. Gubbels et al. (2019) found that the top reasons students cited for not attending school or lectures were boredom, dislike of school and its content, peer pressure, and a lack of expectations towards education.
According to Hofkens & Ruzek (2019), four primary elements encourage children to attend school: the school’s atmosphere, the academic environment, the level of discipline, and the interactions between students and teachers. Researchers Luetz, Bertram-Troost et al., Childs et al. (2018) discovered a correlation between school absenteeism and internalizing and externalizing behaviors, family work and health, and the school environment. Epstein & Sheldon (2002) discovered in a separate study that parental education level was a factor in the absence of their children. There is a correlation between student absence and unfavorable school conditions.
Moreover, several studies have indicated that students’ disposition and passion for learning are significant factors in addressing the issue of student absenteeism (Gershenson, 2016). Pupils with low motivation are absent more frequently than those with solid motivation. Balkıs et al. (2016) found a negative correlation between absenteeism and academic expectations for the future, with academic failure, lack of effort in school, and previous grades serving as predictors of student absence.
According to another group of authors, students’ views toward their teachers and schools significantly affect absenteeism. For example, Gershenson (2016) found that children with a high absenteeism rate also exhibited negative attitudes toward school. Hofkens and Ruzek (2019) found that students’ unfavorable attitudes toward teachers are correlated with classroom absence. As a result, chronic school absence is characterized by its multidimensional nature, which includes numerous risk factors relating to personal, academic, familial, school environment, and social issues.
There is a correlation between disruptive classroom attendance and a variety of problems that can occur throughout a person’s life, including but not limited to risky sexual behavior, adolescent pregnancy, psychiatric disorders, delinquent behavior, externalizing behavior, and the abuse of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other drugs. In addition, young people with a history of chronic absenteeism have a greater chance of never returning to school (Kearney, 2008a). It disadvantages individuals economically and increases their likelihood of experiencing mental, social, occupational, and marital problems as adults.
To lower the likelihood of excessive school absenteeism, such as temporary periods of unexcused school absence and permanent school dropout, it is essential to gain knowledge of the risk factors. Poor school attendance refers to brief, unexcused absences from school. Unexcused and excessive absenteeism is a severe problem that plagues numerous school systems worldwide. While acceptable absenteeism, such as class absences due to medical illness or accidents, might not be considered troublesome, excessive and unexcused absenteeism is. There is a wide range of absence rates due to the significance of the definition and measurement period.
Absenteeism is treatable through various methods, including individual and institutional interventions. Understanding the obstacles students face in pursuing a formal education should be a priority for every school or educational institution. A lack of transportation may be one of these obstacles, along with an inability to effectively communicate attendance policies, a dearth of childcare choices for children not yet of school age, and language hurdles.
Visits to people’s homes, questionnaires, and even impromptu gatherings at the school, the public library, or the community center are all viable options for accomplishing this goal. Schools have a responsibility to better understand their student and family populations, which may necessitate the development of a variety of strategies to locate those populations and inquire about the attendance procedures and regulations as seen from their perspective. This holistic approach can assist educational stakeholders in removing obstacles, enabling students to attend class more consistently.
Building relationships with students can be complex when students do not frequently attend class. It presents a barrier when trying to address the problem of low attendance and absenteeism. However, the educator should establish techniques to continue to foster relationships without passing judgment on the students. It can be challenging because, most of the time, a student’s absence from school creates additional work for the teacher. The teacher needs to put together make-up work, get the absent student caught up, and possibly create extra-credit assignments if the work cannot be recreated on that day. Students can be encouraged to go to school by having teachers who listen to them, ask questions with open-ended answers, refrain from passing judgment on their students, learn more about their students beyond their current academic standing, and display kindness toward them.
Learning Theory Association
According to David Ausubel, the inventor of the Meaningful Learning Theory (MLT), meaningful learning is a viable method in formal educational situations, consisting of the non-arbitrary and non-literal interaction between new knowledge and relevant prior knowledge. This relationship is necessary to achieve meaningful learning (Agra, 2019). As a result of subsequent contacts, particular subsumptions will progressively acquire new meanings; they will also grow more affluent, refined, and differentiated; and they will be able to serve as an anchor for meaningfully new learning.
Ausubel’s theory refers to this as the learner’s starting point. The learner’s prior knowledge is essential to learning (Agra, 2019). In this sense, unraveling what the student already knows entails more than recognizing the student’s representations, conceptions, and ideas; it demands an examination of the cultural and social being in all its forms, as well as bodily, affective, and cognitive languages. To do this, the instructor must be approachable so that the student may share the expectations they have met, the elements of their existence, the existential conditions, and not simply the academic side.
The instructor’s verbal explanations support meaningful learning, predicated on students’ perception of their behavior. These explanations convey ideas to the students (as encouragement) so that they are interpreted as knowledge archivists and demand that students use their mental activity, which is reinforced by the teacher, to accumulate, store, and reproduce the information derived from the ideas presented to them. In this portion of the educational institution’s curriculum, the student performs a cognitive function that is less active and more receptive. They are seen as a repository of knowledge that will be useful in later stages of life.
In addition to employing strategies that draw attention to newly discovered knowledge and proper explanations, the instructor must provide direct and immediate reinforcement to bring about behavioral changes in the students and maintain their stability. It brings about behavioral changes in the students and preserves their stability. Intersecting is the role of the learner and the teacher, the central figure in scientific knowledge. The learner is the one receiving instruction from the instructor. This latter approach does not involve any form of active learning; it merely entails accumulating knowledge that can be repeated in consistent attendance.
Gaps in the Research
Even though a great deal has been done to improve student school attendance, there are still research gaps concerning interventions for truancy and behavioral correction strategies for students. Although a great deal has been done, these gaps remain. There is a growing understanding that the Juvenile Court should not handle behavioral issues such as truancy. According to research and best practice recommendations, involvement with the juvenile justice system will likely have more detrimental than positive impacts. Local and regional school districts are strongly encouraged to develop locally-driven alternatives to truancy in collaboration with community organizations and local foundations.
Additional research is necessary to examine the effect of education administrations’ collaboration with community organizations, such as Youth Service Bureaus, on attendance and the development and implementation of community truancy prevention and intervention initiatives. It is vital to research to determine how effective the deployment of a dropout prevention program, such as Check and Connect or Progress Mentors, is. These programs have good data demonstrating that staying in school benefits students’ academic success.
Future studies should investigate the positive and negative effects of submitting truant students to a juvenile review board. Those referred to a community-based diversion program for minors who would otherwise be committed to the Juvenile Court for trivial law violations. This strategy includes case management, a panel meeting to analyze the case, and links to necessary resources. They review the rules regulating student discipline to ensure that learners are only expelled from school when necessary, fairly, and consistently.
Schools should offer summer learning programs that re-engage students and their parents to strengthen the bond between the institution and their children. When necessary, provide students with appropriate referrals for support and evaluation. For instance, if a student is struggling with anxiety or depression, the school’s social worker, counselor, or psychologist may be able to assist the student in resolving the identified difficulties. Future research should focus on determining the impact of utilizing local Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services to give rapid access to help schools address children’s behavioral and emotional needs and to assist in maintaining student enrollment.
Biblical Worldview
A biblical worldview is not merely an abstract concept to be considered. How we react to significant events is altered when we adopt a biblical worldview. A biblical worldview provides the foundation for all interpretative endeavors, including philosophizing, reading, instructing, judging, and evaluating (Luetz & Green, 2021).
Understanding the impact of one’s worldview is made easier for educators by applying this principle. Because of this, it becomes easier for them to comprehend who they are, where they are, and where they are going. Once they understand their worldview, they will better comprehend the student’s cultural background. They need to better understand the significance of the student’s identity in a multiethnic classroom.
Students in educational contexts demonstrate a positive correlation between increasing religious understanding and improved academic achievement. This organization supports religious education (Bertram-Troost et al., 2018). Students who engage in religious activities outside the classroom are more likely to devote more effort and time to their academic work, resulting in higher academic achievement.
Participation in educational programs provided by religious organizations is associated with higher academic achievement and performance (Vaughan, 2019). In recent decades, a great deal of research and writing has been devoted to evaluating whether or not a Catholic education effectively enhances the intellectual achievements of its students (Vaughan, 2019). Consistently attending church services and events may be one approach for an individual to assist themselves in developing a more positive self-concept regarding scholastic achievement, work habits, and discipline.
A biblical worldview is an orientation that provides not just a vision of what life is like but also a general way of existence. It is a representation of life and a guide for living. For instructors to attain this purpose, they must adhere to a biblical worldview as their guiding principle. It is a framework that defines the conditions that control our thinking and actions.
The worldview is the organizing framework for interpretive endeavors, including philosophizing, reading, instructing, judging, and assessing. To put it another way, a worldview is a predefined perspective on how one should approach life. A worldview is a framework component that enables people to perceive the world, learn about it, and participate in it. It functions as a compass or a map that explains how to move along a specific path. In addition, it influences and directs our behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, and actions.
According to Isaiah 8:17-20, following the Lord’s way offers a unique perspective on life and the world. People raised in Christian families worldwide have different default beliefs about how the world functions compared to those raised in non-Christian homes. These assumptions vary according to geography (Horwitz, 2022).
When Jesus initially asked Paul to minister to the Gentiles, he informed Paul of the transformation that would result directly from Paul’s labor. Jesus told his followers, “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from Satan’s authority to God, so that they may get a pardon for their sins and a place among those who have been purified by faith.” These are the remarks made by Jesus to his disciples (Acts 26:17-18). When people devote their lives to serving God and walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, their outlook on life and the world around them appears to undergo a radical metamorphosis.
Conclusion
Students with regular attendance schedules and who attend school consistently will significantly improve their chances of achieving the academic success they seek. Students who are chronically absent from school run a significantly elevated risk of getting into legal trouble and generating disruptions in the communities in which they live. This risk is significantly higher than the danger faced by students who attend school regularly.
In addition, children’s general academic performance will suffer as a direct consequence. Research has demonstrated that a student’s level of attendance affects their ability to be successful academically. If students keep an accurate class attendance record, they can account for all the elements contributing to their academic success. The percentage of students in class has been shown to correlate strongly with academic performance and achievement.
When a large percentage of the students enrolled in a class have a pattern of unexcused absences, it makes it more challenging for both the instructor and the students who remain in the class to develop their abilities and progress. If children, while still in school, are allowed to practice being punctual, it will better prepare them for the future employment they will have. Students often face challenges obtaining a formal education, including a lack of transportation access. Educational institutions should improve their understanding of families and students in their respective demographics. Home visits, surveys, and even impromptu get-togethers are all feasible alternatives for conducting research. The stakeholders in education may benefit from this holistic approach, which can help them remove hurdles.
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