Teachers feel less close to children who miss a lot of school, according to a new study (Pic: Getty ... [+]
Teachers feel more negatively toward children who are chronically absent than towards those who are rarely off school, according to a University of Pennsylvania-led study.
Children who miss a lot of school are seen as more withdrawn and having worse interpersonal skills, as well as being worse at literacy and math than their classmates, even when that is not true.
And researchers fear that these negative perceptions may exacerbate the challenges that children face when they are off school for extended periods.
The number of children who are chronically absent from school in the U.S. — missing 10% of school days or more — has rocketed since the pandemic, from around 16% in 2018/19 to 30% in 2021/22.
Although latest figures show a fall in persistent absence in the U.K., it is still almost double the pre-pandemic rate, with illness a major component, according to the Department for Education.
Now a research has found that when chronically absent children are in the classroom, their teachers feel less positively towards them.
“Our findings suggest that absenteeism puts students at a double disadvantage,” said Professor Michael Gottfried of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and lead author of the study.
“First, they miss out on essential learning opportunities by not being in school. And then it erodes their teachers’ relationships with them, which can further harm their academic growth.”
Researchers collected data on 14,370 early elementary children — in kindergarten and first and second grade — for the study, published in AERA Open, the journal of the American Educational Research Association.
The data included assessments of children, parent interviews and questionnaires completed by teachers and administrators.
Analysis found that teachers said they felt less close to chronically absent children and viewed them less positively than classmates who had a good attendance record.
They did not feel as though they had more conflict with these children, suggesting chronically absent children were not seen as causing more trouble in the classroom.
Instead, they were viewed as having more internalized behaviors, such as being withdrawn, according to Gottfried, who carried out the study with researchers at the Walton Family Foundation.
“One stereotype about absent students is that they are ‘troublemakers’ when they are back in the classroom, but we don’t find that to be the case at all,” Gottfried said.
This negative attitude towards chronically absent children extended into academic ability. Teachers saw chronically absent children as having fewer positive learning behavior and as being less proficient in literacy and math, even when that was not true.
Schools could provide teachers with professional development to help change their view of chronically absent children, particularly as perceptions of persistent absentees could also be bound up with perceptions of race and ethnicity, Gottfried said.
American Indian, Pacific Islander, Black and Hispanic students all have higher rates of chronic absenteeism than white and Asian students, while non-English learners are more likely to be persistent absentees than English learners.
And the study highlights how persistent absenteeism is not just an issue for the individual, but for the classroom as well, Gottfried added.
“We need to pay attention to both if we are aiming to solve the absenteeism crisis,” he said.
