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The purpose of this paper is to explore the influences of teacher and student absenteeism across nine public schools (five primary and four secondary) in Guyana, South America.

To conduct this study, the author employed a mixed-methods study that included a descriptive analysis of a purposive sample of teacher (n=69) and student (n=175) surveys and semi-structured interviews with head teachers (n=8), teachers (n=25), students (n=36), and parents (n=9).

The findings suggested that teacher absenteeism can be attributed to school organizational challenges, such as poor working conditions and weak administrative leadership. Student absenteeism appeared to be influenced primarily by out-of-school factors such as the need to work and to take care of younger siblings.

The study’s purposive sample may have prevented a more nuanced understanding of the various influences of teacher and student absenteeism.

The author provides new insight into some of the root influences of teacher and student absenteeism in Guyana, South America. As such, policymakers and practitioners in the Ministry of Education are positioned to devise evidence-based solutions.

Deming’s quality managment principles (TQM) are widely used as a school restructuring vehicle and produce increases in student achievement and self‐esteem and increased teacher morale and self‐confidence. Application of Deming’s principles and the TQM problem‐solving tools and techniques can be used to solve noninstructional problems of schooling. These areas, which create unnecessary costs to the school and community, include vandalism, school dropouts and student absenteeism. This case study presents a model for principals to apply to provide quality outcomes, at reduced cost, in noninstructional areas. Using teachers, parents, community members, and applying the problem‐solving tools and techniques of TQM to identify root problem causes, principals can identify realistic solutions which yield positive results and reduce costs in academic and nonacademic areas.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the proximity of study centres to the students of College of Distance Education, University of Cape Coast (CoDE/UCC) and whether further studies of distance learners who were teachers and employees could lead to absenteeism in their workplaces.

A sequential explanatory strategy was used. A self-administered questionnaire and unstructured interviews as well as observation guides were employed to collect data from 2,077 students pursuing business and education programmes of CoDE in all study centres across Ghana. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics and pattern matching of content analysis.

The study found that few teachers and other workers pursuing the distance education do absent themselves from the workplace or classroom on Fridays preceding their face-to-face session because they embarked on their journey to the study centres on Friday morning. Some teachers also absented themselves from work on Mondays after face-to-face sessions for a lack of means of transport on Sunday after lessons. The absenteeism of these respondents directly and indirectly affected their employers, students and customers.

It was therefore recommended that management of CoDE/UCC should open more study centres in all the regions especially Western, Ashanti, Upper East, Northern and Upper West Regions to reduce number of hours spent by students to their study centres and consider introducing the business programmes at the existing district centres to reduce average distance covered by these students to commute from their places of work to their respective centres in the regional capitals. It was also recommended that online/electronic learning and audio versions (impersonal communication) of the study modules should be introduced so that students would not necessary have to travel to the study centre to participate in lectures/face-to-face sessions.

The findings of this study will help managers and administrators of both public and private distance educational providers. In addition to providing basis and areas for establishing study centres for geographical proximity, findings of the study should prove helpful for designing and delivering electronic and audio versions of distance education modules to reduce the level of absenteeism in workplace for the students.

The purposes of this study are to identify the reasons that prevent students from attending lectures, to examine the impact of absenteeism on their academic performance and to explore the role of gender in their attendance.

A questionnaire survey made up of statements was distributed to accounting students. Descriptive measures, a five-point Likert scale, Pearson's chi-square test and phi test were employed to achieve the study's objectives.

The study shows that most of the accounting students surveyed are aware of the importance of attending lectures, since they believe that attendance will have a positive impact on their understanding of course material and on their academic performance. The study indicates that overall academic performance and student attendance are related. It also indicates that there is a statistically significant association between the overall academic performance of accounting students and their gender.

To gain greater insight into educators, academic institutes, researchers and parents concerning the reasons that lie behind students not attending accounting lectures in public higher education institutions in Kuwait and the effect of attendance on academic performance.

Most prior studies have been conducted in developed countries and Western contexts. Especially, with the potential perceived differences in cultures and norms, this empirical study is expected to contribute to fill the gap in this research field.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating roles of absenteeism and continuous assessments on the overall academic performance at undergraduate level using structural equation modelling (SEM).

Pragmatic worldview with a mixed-method approach was used in this study. Data were collected using a variety of tools. Subsequent analyses used both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Interviews and documentary analyses were used to identify the dimensions of student disengagement while SEM was used to determine mediation among selected variables.

The results of this study showed that absence rates mediated the relationship between performance on continuous assessments and grade point average (GPA). Absence rates also mediated the relationship between personal circumstances and GPA and finally, course selection impacted on GPA with performance on continuous assessments as the mediator. H3 were not supported and the implications are discussed.

The research was conducted in a single institution, was cross-sectional in nature and the variables used were contextualised. However, the tools used in this study can be adapted to identify the risk factors leading to poor student performance in other settings and to address them.

The outcomes of the current study can be useful to policymakers and practitioners in in addressing student performance-related issues.

On a broader perspective, societal challenges associated with student dropouts resulting from poor academic performance can be minimised.

This study shows academic performance in a different perspective where mediators reveal the complex nature of the determinants of academic performance.

To examine the effects of specific personal and job characteristics on year‐to‐year (2000‐2001) changes in teachers' frequency of absences.

With few exceptions, the population of elementary‐ and middle‐school teachers in the Israeli public education system (N=51,916) was studied. Hierarchical regression analysis was used.

Prior absenteeism, age, education, and supervisory position were found to be significant predictors of absenteeism frequency, accounting for about 50 percent of the variance in absence frequency.

This study focuses on relatively stable individual‐difference predictors, including sociodemographic variables and work‐related characteristics, which have been downplayed in the literature. These predictors can be measured more reliably and validly, compared to complex psychological constructs, and are relatively easy to interpret and implement by decision makers.

Other business education literature, particularly in the field of economics, has developed theories in respect of the reasons for non‐attendance of lectures and the positive correlation between class attendance and academic performance. The aim of this paper is to determine the generalizability of these theories to a large accounting class in South Africa.

This paper is a differentiated replication of the study by Paisey and Paisey, who provided initial evidence of the generalizability of these theories to a small accounting class in Scotland, employing a research questionnaire and the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data.

The reasons given for the non‐attendance of lectures generally correspond with those previously reported. Certain differences that are identified are likely a result of specific country or economic factors. This study found a significant positive correlation between class attendance and academic performance; however, the correlation is low and not very meaningful. Further analysis reveals some difference between language groups suggesting that culture and ethnicity may have an effect on the relationship between class attendance and academic performance.

This paper raises questions as to the generalizability of prior research on class attendance and academic performance. The findings of this study suggest other factors, including students' economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, are likely to affect associations between class attendance and academic performance.

Lean thinking (LT) has been implemented in various manufacturing and service sectors. But, only a few published research articles have developed a framework describing the procedure for implementing LT in an educational institute. The purpose of this paper is to develop and demonstrate a framework that can provide a structured procedure for the implementation of LT in an educational institute.

Various LT tools and techniques applicable in educational institute were identified by reviewing the relevant literature. By adopting an action research methodology (ARM) for a time period of 28 months, the processes in a case institute were studied; wastes in the process were identified and various solutions were proposed and implemented.

A comparison of the performance measures before (Batch 1) and after (Batch 2) implementation of solutions provided interesting insights into the effectiveness of LT. In both the batches, absenteeism in the class was found to increase across the terms. But the magnitude of increase was lesser in Batch 2. Results also showed that the number of unfilled seats (poor utilization) in an elective course in the second year of the program drastically reduced in Batch 2. Finally, a framework that can guide LT implementation in educational institutes was proposed.

The current study describes only the initial stages of implementation in an educational institute. Hence, some of the benefits discussed are expected in the long run which can be assessed by carrying out a longitudinal study. Future study can attempt to empirically validate the proposed framework in multiple educational institutes and theoretically explain the reasons behind the results obtained.

ARM can be used as a tool by practitioners to study the behavioral aspects of employees of educational institutes toward LT implementation. The proposed framework and its demonstration can assist employees in educational institutes to implement LT. Positive results obtained in this study can further motivate the educational institutes to consider LT as a potential tool for improving the processes.

This is the first study to develop and validate a framework for structured implementation of LT in the processes of an educational institute. The study is also unique in empirically capturing the impact of LT implementation of an educational institute by analyzing the archived data.

The purpose of this research is to examine the origins of conflicts, as perceived by the larger school community, in a public school in the context of Angolan community.

To gather data for the research, a qualitative methodology was used, with semi-structured group interviews. A selection of 167 individuals, including teachers, students and family members, was made for the purpose of data collection through interviews. The data were analyzed through a content analysis method using Maxqda 12.

The research revealed that the most relevant conflicts in the school context were related to a lack of compliance by the teachers to professional standards and the code of conduct required by the educational institution for teachers and the teachers’ lack of respect for the institutions’ ethical-deontological standards. The research also showed that the undisciplined behavior of the students, the poor quality of family life and a lack of parental supervision and guidance (involvement) play a huge part in the ongoing conflicts in the larger context of the school community.

Much research on school conflicts is based on school violence and student bullying. Labor disputes between teachers or between teachers and the school board are still analyzed. In this research, the particularity is a matter of seeing the conflicts of the school community involving parents and guardians.

This chapter examines the perceptions of school leaders of the School Improvement Zone (SIZ), a landmark intervention program intended to advance student achievement while eliminating low performance in 39 geographically noncontiguous low-performing schools in a large urban district in the United States. Primary components of the initiative include (a) a core literacy program that extends from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 and is consistent across all Zone schools, (b) a structured curriculum and instructional strategies that build across grade and school levels, (c) an extended day and school year, (d) the provision of extensive professional development activities for Zone school teachers and administrators, partnerships with universities and community groups, and (e) Student Development Teams to bring together social workers and psychologists to focus on prevention strategies rather than treatment for struggling students.