Problems with Attendance and Punctuality at School - Essay Example

May 10, 2009 Independent Research Project INTRODUCTION Dormers Wells is much larger than most infant schools with 395 pupils full-time, including 90 who attend nursery part time, either mornings or afternoons. Children enter the school at three years old, and move from the Nursery to the Reception in the September of the year they reach five. The pupils come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and many are from asylum seeking and refugee families whose socio-economic circumstances are very low. Over half of the pupils are entitled to free school meals, which is much higher than average. Very few pupils start school with a good command of English and many students are from ethnic minority groups, most of whom have English as an additional language; these figures are very high compared with other schools. There are 41 languages represented in the school and the attainment of pupils on entry is very low compared with national levels, with many pupils speaking little or no English. In addition, the percentage of pupils who have learning difficulties is similar to the figures found nationally. The school offers a wide range of before- and after-school activities for pupils, their parents and the local community. The purpose of this study is to identify an area of development on attendance and punctuality of the school as they have problems with it. According to Ofsteds report dated 2004, the Dormers Wells Infants School, it contains school complaints where actions were not required. Following school representation, Ofsted decided to publish informations relating to complaints on September 1, 2006 where actions were required by Ofsted and the school. Even if there were several complaints, they did not require any action. This responsibility to give true and up to date information was changed in January 2009. The main concern of primary school teachers is the issue of pupils taking holiday during school time. The staff were confused as to when holiday time should be authorised and when it should not be authorised. In both authorities, different practices were followed. The ones interviewed believe that Circular 3/99 be rewritten, simplified and be more user friendly for better local clarification. In primary schools, everyday attendance is checked then at the end of school term, a certificate of full attendance is awarded. Teachers are also involved in visiting homes of pupils who got absent on the first day. Some teachers are confused about authorising unauthorised absence issue. All the staff did not believe that attendance should be a part of the work load agenda but they should be involved in registration process as part of their duty of care and pastoral support of pupils and parents. However, both heads and teachers worry that too little information was being shared by school and their local social services and health departments and other local services agencies (ex: Connexions, YOT providers), that has implication for Every Child Matters (Dfes, 2003). METHODOLOGY The method I used to gather data from parents regarding attendance and punctuality is give questionnaires to parents because I found this method more convenient. The significance of this method is that the researcher and respondent should not in any way have any personal involvement. They have to maintain a social distance. (Research Method p 2) Advantages of using questionnaires are: 1. Questionnaires are more objective because responses are gathered in a standardised way. 2. Informations are relatively quick to collect using a questionnaire but in some instances they can take a long time designing and analysing. 3. Information can be gathered from a large portion of a group. Returns from questionnaires are usually low and this is not often realised. But return rates can be improved if the questionnaire is delivered and responded to on time. Disadvantages of questionnaires: 1. Like the many evaluation methods, questionnaires are given after the event, so participants may forget some important issues. 2. Questionnaires are standardised. There is no possible explanation in the questions that participants might forget but it could be solved partially by piloting the the questions on a small group of students or friends and colleagues. 3. Questions with large amount of data take a long time to process and analyse. To limit this would be to avail the students small space for their response or to sample them taking a few of them for survey. 4. Respondents may give superficial answer especially if the questionnaire takes a long time to complete. Avoid asking too many questions. 5. Students may not want to answer the question. They might not want to reveal information because they will not benefit from responding or be penalised for opinion. They should be asked to answer honestly that if they give a negative answer this is just as good as positive opinion. As much as possible they want an anonymous questionnaire. Details of sampling Sampling - it is a part of statistical practice whose concern is to select individuals with intended observations to contribute some knowledge about a population. (Wikipedia Apr. 2009) This research is based on case study. The information gathered came from 33 parents of Dormers Wells Infants School and Nursery. The pupils come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and many are from asylum seeking and refugee families whose socio-economic circumstances are very low. As you can see, appendex A or B are graphs representing the weekly attendance rate of pupils in Dormers Wells Infants and Nursery. The 3 graphs indicate the attendance of children for 3 consecutive months, January, February and March. January and March graph have almost the same high attendance rate of 96.5% while the February graph indicates a high rate of absences because of the half term break. Limitations for using questionnaire With questionnaires sent through mails the researcher is never sure whether the person whom the questionnaire was sent to is the one who actually fills it The researcher don't know if the respondents understood the questions properly The researcher hopes that she has the same idea of the question asked as the respondent The response rate tends to become lesser When the response is low, it means that only the people with strong opinions took time to answer the questionnaire. Ethical considerations Confidentiality "As you can see on appendix A or B, the result of the graph is unsatisfactory. Rest assured that their response to the questionnaire shall be kept confidential keeping your identity in private". In this statement precautions must be taken in consideration to protect the identity of the subject. Storage of data The researcher is responsible for the storage and retention of original data about the project. Benefits and draw backs of chosen method Some methods have beneficial consequences. For example: Portfolios: keeping a portfolio increases the children's motivation to learn. Embedded assignment: teachers collaborate to make scoring rubrics and Reach consensus on works of exemplary students, they receive more consistent grading and feedback from professor Key findings According to Malcolm, Wilson, Davidson and Kirk (2003), this study suggest that directly or indirectly, family attitudes play an important part in pupil's school attendance and punctuality. It confirmed this general finding but also provides more information about the complexity of the relationship between parental attitudes and their children's attendance and punctuality in school. Specifically: Some parents have children who are absent very often in school while most of the parent's children are absent only once in a while. For the children who are absent once a week means it has already become habitual for them to have a weekly holiday. Their reason for their absence is because they were sick and some go for vacation. No child has ever been absent because of school phobia. This only means that the school teachers are very generous in handling children. They do not fear talking to them and that they can approach the teacher any time. There are different factors why children experience difficulty in school; they do not understand their lesson well because of constant absences. Parents who participate in school activities know what's going on in their children's school, that's why they know the school's attendance target percentage is. However more parents do not know their children's attendance percentage because maybe they don't care going to the school, visit the teacher and ask about the children's status with regards to their attendance. While less parents are concerned about their children's attendance in school. More children bring their children on holiday vacation to give them a break. This way they can have time to get together ones in a while. Other parents do not bring their children anywhere because the parents are too busy working that they neglect giving their children some fun with them, or some just don't care Only a few bring the children to school before medical and return them afterwards while more parents said do not bring and return them to school afterwards. However, most parents make arrangement with other people like their relatives, friends and in-laws to pick up the children from school because they cannot while others do not or perhaps they just don't let the child go to school anymore. In the importance of the children's performance in school, most of the parents consider it very important that's why they try not to miss any activity of their children. Regular school attendance of children really is a big help with their achievements. Most of the parents agree on this while there a few parents who do not believe. If a child is always present in school, the tendency is they are more active academically and always participate in school activities. A certificate for a 95% plus attendance would be fine says the 27% of the parents who took part in answering the questionnaire. They think that by doing so, the children will be motivated to go to school with a very little chance of getting absent. However, the same percentage disagree because there is still 25% chance of getting absent. Perhaps what they are thinking of a 100% for a certificate of non- abcenses. In cases of punctuality With children who wake up earlier are the ones who sleep early which is advantageous to them, they will go to school early while those children who sleep late, the consequence would be they wake up late and go to school late Most of the children at the Dormers Wells Infants School and Nursery just walk their way to the school while the same number go to school by transportation. Parents revealed that the farthest distance travelled by children to come to school is 3 miles same as that who come to school with only half mile and those that come from a 2 mile distance carry the highest percentage The parents who believe that their children are not so often late in school are those who do not visit the school teachers and ask them about the status of their children or activities. They just depend on what their children report to them. School should sometimes send letters to parents to give them an idea of what are the activities of their children in school and the status of their attendance. A larger percentage of parents say that their biggest problem for being late in going to school is traffic. This carry the highest percentage of 60% while transport problem is the second. The solution to all these problems is to wake up early to avoid all this circumstances. A 100% answer in punctuality means that parents and children are cooperating well with the school and that parent show interest with their children's education. Most parents are also aware of school rules and regulations and all they do is to follow while parents who disagree do not have any idea about it. The biggest percentage,(60%)of parents agree that punctuality has an effect on their children's learning. There are teachers who do not repeat a lesson for the sake of late children. Only 10% disagree and they are the parents who expect that their children really go to school late. While the 30% who strongly agree are those parents whose children are always punctual in going to school. If the school would give certificate of improved punctuality, perhaps this would change the attitude of the children who go to school late. The certificate would motivate them to go to school early so that they could also get a certificate and would be proud of it. All parents agree to this. School bus would be a big help to children as well as to parents. If the children are picked up from home and returned afterwards, their parents would be confident that their children will not be late and that they are even brought home safe. The school will now be the one in charge of their punctuality. Conclusion The conclusion for this study is simple; a great deal of effort is being put into to looking for solutions to a problem that affects the attendance and punctuality of pupils. School teachers and parents as well will have to work together to find the best solution. However not all parents are expected to participate because of same reasons which they think are more important than attending to their children education. Some parents do not really care if their children are absent or late in school because their concern is to work only for the family and they leave education a self responsibility of the children. Although this consists of a very small percentage of parents it still affects other children, the school and the society as well. Every school aims to have a 100% attendance report at the end of school term. As stated by MC Write in his book, sociology gives the theoretical tools important for us to meaningfully combine research, teaching and learning in this area. Suggestions and recommendations There are several suggestions and recommendations given by the parents in this study in order to improve the attendance rate. a) Some parents say that it is not the responsibility of the school when it comes to their children's attendance because they should be the ones to persuade their children not to be absent to achieve a good education in the future. b) On the part of the school, the teacher should make their lessons fun and mot to let the children feel they are under pressure. The more the children can not relate to their lesson if this is the case. Some teachers feel that if they make fun and play with the children, they will abuse their generosity. c) Another suggestion made is to make the whole school more enjoyable place for children. For example, They should provide playground with safe facilities for the children to play with. This way the children would always want to go to school and play during their break time. The school should also arrange for some activities where in, all the children could participate like programs or educational tour. d) Certificates should also be awarded to children who attend school regularly. e) This could be done monthly or quarterly. For sure, children who will be given this award would be very proud to show to their parents the certificate they earned. Parents would also feel proud because they are the ones in charge of their childrens' achievement. f) What other school teachers do is to give sticker son good attendance to the children. This is also one way to motivating the children to come to school to come to school to earn the sticker and show it to their classmates. Every child now would want a sticker for themselves and it results to having a good attendance rate. g) Parents also suggest that the children be provided with transportation paid by them to pick them up for school and back to their homes. This way the parents are also ensured of their children's safety in going to school and back to their homes. References MALKOLM, H. WILSON, V., DAVIDSON, J, and KIRK, S. Absence From School: a Study of its Causes and Effects. (DfES Research Report 424). London: DfES. (2003) MC Wright. Teaching Sociology Vol.19, No.4 pp.454-463 stableURL:http://links.jstor.org/sici'=0092055x%28199110%344%3CA454%3ATHOHAS%3E2. (Oct., 1994). Date of access May 9, 2009. www.kschachinger.com/vissocimages/citations2.doc- Research Methods Participant Observation www.sociology.org.uk 2003 p 2 Naturalistic Method. www.sociology.org.uk/mpoprint.pdf Sample - based synthesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en wikipedia.org/wiki/sample-based_synthesis... 1 Oct. 2007. Date of access May 8, 2009. Een.wikipedia.org/wiki/sample-based_synthesis-28k- Read More