Day in day out: a case study of poor attendance at primary school level a study in an educationally disadvantaged setting
Spring, Noelle
(2011)
Day in day out: a case study of poor attendance at primary school level a study in an educationally disadvantaged setting.
Doctor of Education thesis, Dublin City University.
Attending school is a significant experience during the course of a person’s
lifetime. It contributes to the foundation of emotional, social, cognitive, moral and
spiritual development, particularly at pre-school and primary school levels. Despite
its importance, it is not available to all children equally and this phenomenon mirrors
broader societal inequalities. During the past three decades in Ireland there has been
much discourse and financial investment focusing on educational disadvantage, yet it
remains an intractable problem for society. This thesis provides one lens through
which educational disadvantage can be investigated: school absenteeism at primary
level in schools located in an area designated as disadvantaged. The research
provides information on: 1) the attendance of 306 students in one school-year and 2)
the experience and perceptions of seven key personnel dealing with school
absenteeism on a daily basis. The inquiry was conducted in a systematic way to
ensure the validity of the findings and a contribution to the knowledge already
available on absenteeism in primary level schools. The research adopts a case study
research strategy and applied a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design.
The study traces the key concepts underpinning absenteeism in Irish and
international literature as the substantive focus of the thesis. The broader frame
locates the issue of school absenteeism within inequality of education and
educational disadvantage using an interdisciplinary approach. This work considers
public policy in relation to Irish education, educational disadvantage and school
attendance with a particular focus on relevant legislation and policy implementation.
Having established that there is a serious problem of poor attendance in some
Irish primary schools a key conclusion of this research is that while the Education
(Welfare) Act (Government of Ireland, 2000) provides the legislative and policy
mechanism to curtail the extent of absenteeism at primary level, serious attention
needs to be given to its full implementation. Despite the high levels of absenteeism in
schools designated as disadvantaged there is evidence of a strong and definite
commitment to prevent and curtail this phenomenon within the educational system. It
is evident from the interviews that this is a key area of concern for all the personnel
involved.