Journal of Namibian Studies, 22 (2017): 59 – 80 ISSN: 2197-5523 (online)

Copyright © 2017 Otjivanda Presse.Essen ISSN 1863-5954 (print) ISSN 2197-5523 (online)

Learner absenteeism: A case study of rural primary schools in Kavango East

Katanga Marcelius Mudumbi*

Abstract The article explores classroom challenges experienced by rural primary school teachers in the Kavango East region of Namibia when learners are absent from school and the strategies used to reduce learner absenteeism. It employs a qualitative approach and semi-structured interviews as data collection method. Literature indicates that learner absenteeism is more of a problem in rural schools than in urban schools. Managing learner performance when there is a high rate of absenteeism is a problem in teaching and learning, and is a hindrance to quality education. This article draws on ethic of care theory to explain the experience of the teachers. Interviews were carried out at four rural primary schools in Kavango East with two teachers from each school. The findings have implications for building a teacher-learner relationship that is based on caring for the learner’s education needs and well-being in general.

Introduction Learner absenteeism in rural primary schools has become an issue of concern to researchers locally and internationally. A study carried out in Namibia by Southern and East African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality suggests that absenteeism among Grade 6 learners was as high as 50%.1 In addition, another report by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture indicates a learner absenteeism rate of 40% at national level.2 Irene Hoaes maintains that about 109 students from a total of 519 at Oshikoto secondary school in Oshikoto region in Namibia were not in the classroom at the beginning of the second school term.3 By 1995 7% of school-aged children were still not enrolled in schools and thus were denied their right to education. These reports show a general concern for poor school attendance in Namibia which may have

* Katanga Marcelius Mudumbi obtained his Masters of Education in the Department of Education Management & Policy Studies at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He has researched comprehensively on learner absenteeism in rural primary schools in Kavango East, focusing on challenges faced by teachers when learners are absent from the classroom and strategies to reduce learner absenteeism. E-mail: katangamm7@gmail.com

1 Demus Makuwa, The SACMEQ II Project in Namibia: A Study of the Conditions of Schooling, Namibia Working Report, National, Harare, SACMEQ / Namibia, Ministry of Basic Education, 2005.

2 Ministry of Education of Namibia, Annual Report of 1995-2005, Windhoek, Government Printers, 2007.

3 Irene Hoaes, , “Namibia: Learners Absenteeism out of Control”, New Era, 24 June 2010.

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consequences for future generations. Christopher Kearney asserts that learner absenteeism is also a major factor in learners drooping out of school and that it influences the social, economic and health status of learners in later life.4 The Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture introduced the Education Act of 2001 to accommodate marginalized children and to ensure that they could exercise their rights to education.5 Furthermore, in order to improve school attendance, the Ministry of Education also introduced the Namibia National Standard and Performance Indicators (NSPI) which prescribed that a school should establish learner attendance rate of 97% or better. In addition, a school feeding programme and a mobile school for Ovahimba children were introduced.6

Literature on learner absenteeism reveals that children may be withdrawn from school by parents to boost the family income by involving them in cheap labour at an early age.7 Ming Zhang is of the opinion that poor school attendance is associated with poverty and that there tend to be warning signs in the primary school phase of the affected learner’s education. Once absenteeism is entrenched it becomes difficult for learners to attend school regularly – even if the parent’s poverty is alleviated.8 There are many factors contributing to learner absenteeism and schools need to find ways of dealing with the problem.9 Regular school attendance gives learners an opportunity to work with their teachers and their peers, facilitates networking important and contributes to improved learner performance. Kearney argued that students who are motivated or praised improve their academic performance and attendance which in turn boost their self-esteem, commitment to school and self-confidence. In addition, further research examines the challenges faced by teachers in rural nomadic groups as parents only send their children to attend school periodically. While some of the learners do not attend school because they have to assist with family chores, others play truant because of the long distances they have to walk to school.10

Many of the factors that lead to learner absenteeism cannot be easily eliminated. Children need food and, at times, parents need a helping hand to provide food for the

4 Christopher A. Kearney, “An interdisciplinary model of school absenteeism in youth to inform professional practice and public policy”, Educational Psychology Review, 20, 2008: 257-282.

5 Erika von Wietersheim, Educationally Marginalized Children in Namibia: An Inventory of Programs, Interventions and Data, UNICEF/Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture (MBESC), 2002. <http://www.streetchildrenresources.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/educationally-marginalised-namibia.pdf> [accessed November 22, 2017];

6 Ministry of Education of Namibia, Education Management Information System of Ministry of Education, Windhoek, Government Printers, 2008.

7 Martell Lee Teasley, “Absenteeism and truancy. Risk, protection and best practices implication for school social workers”, Children and Schools, 26 (2), 2004: 117-128.

8 Ming Zhang, “Links between school absenteeism and child poverty”, Pastoral Care in Education, 21, 2003: 10-17.

9 Ken Reid, “The search for solutions to truancy and other forms of school absenteeism”, Pastoral Care in Education, 21 (1), 2003: 3-9.

10 Kearney, “Interdisciplinary model”; Teasley, “Absenteeism and truancy”.

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family. Assuming that there is no simple solution to the problem, the question arises as to how teachers deal with the management of absenteeism and what factors contribute to the problem in the classroom situation. Irregular school attendance attracted this researcher because if the factors that contribute to learner’s absenteeism are identified, one will have a starting point for developing programmes to address the problem.

This article is based on the assumption that while there is a policy on learner access to education, there should be a system in place for monitoring school attendance in order to control learner absenteeism.11 The test sample consists of rural primary schools in the Kavango region of Namibia. Most learners from these schools are required to walk long distances to school and must overcome adverse seasonal factors such as rain, cold weather which often prevent regular attendance. Teachers cannot change weather conditions, so how do they manage the learners’ school attendance during rainy season? The management of learner’s absenteeism is not merely a process of placing a tick next to the names of learners who are present at school but should be based on a system of monitoring and caring.

Parents can participate through attending meetings, checking homework and monitoring their children’s school attendance. The partnership relationship between the home and the school means the training of school staff members, especially those in management positions, to deal with monitoring and managing learner absenteeism is a matter of urgency. However, absenteeism means learners fall behind in their studies and may thus lack basic competencies. Furthermore, regular attendance may reduce school dropout rates and schools have an important role to play in moulding learner behaviour.12 A collaborative relationship between principals, head teachers, school board members and the community at large is necessary to address the problem. Children have a right to basic education and to food and clean water. What happens then if children have to forego the right to education and secure food and water? Failing to herd their cattle may rob them of their livelihood. Education does not fill the stomach and children can only attend school if they have enough to eat.

The use of incentives can help reduce learner absenteeism, which is also a problem in other parts of the world with better-functioning schooling systems. In such systems funds are available to record, track, observe and control learner absenteeism. Countries such as the UK and the USA, use an attendance document to this end. Namibia uses the class register as an official document for monitoring student attendance and absenteeism. However, there are few studies on learner absenteeism in less developed countries. The intervention used in urban and city schools when monitoring school attendance may not be relevant in a rural primary school context where learners are often absent due to circumstances beyond their control. This implies that rural primary

11 Keith Mumba Sanzila, Environmental Factors Influencing Learner’s Absenteeism in Six Schools in the Kavango Region, Namibia, unpubl. M.Ed. half thesis, Grahamstown, Rhodes University, 2011.

12 Kearney, “Interdisciplinary model”; Reid, “Search for solutions”; idem, “Strategic approach to tackling school absenteeism and truancy: the traffic lights (TL) scheme”, Educational Review, 55, (3), 2003: 305-321.

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schools in Namibia must find their own specific intervention strategies. Despite all the initiatives and the National Standard and Performance Indicators (NSPI) policy, which is intended to improve access to education and learner, rural primary schools continue to experience learner absenteeism challenges that are often not experienced by township or urban schools.

There are very few studies on the challenges for teachers of learner absenteeism in the Namibia. Therefore, such a study should be undertaken which focused on these challenges in rural primary schools in the Kavango east region. A study conducted there by Keith Mumba Sanzila indicates that the average rate of learner absenteeism is 4.1% in six participating secondary schools. This is close to the 97% required by the Namibia National Standard of good attendance. Thus absenteeism does not seem to be so great a problem in secondary schools in the region.13 Although numerous strategies are in place to provide access to education, many children do not progress from primary to secondary school. Moreover, many secondary school learners stay in hostels close to their schools, but this is not generally the case with primary school learners. In undertaking this study, I hope to gain a greater understanding of and insight into, the challenges faced by teachers when learners are absent and the strategies they use to overcome/reduce absenteeism in adverse environmental conditions. The limited research in Namibia on the subject was a further motivation for this study.

Literature review The reasons for learner absenteeism in schools cited in the literature are diverse and complicated but generally they fall into three broad categories, namely; personal/ individual, social economics/family and school factors.14 Individual learners with inadequate social and/or cognitive skills, emotional problems, low self-esteem and low self-concept are less likely to attend school regularly. Absenteeism can be defined as habitual or intentional failure to attend school. According to Lisa Shusko absenteeism can be categorized as follows: Authorized Absenteeism – when a learner is absent from school with permission from a teacher; unauthorized absenteeism – when a learner is absent without permission or without informing the teacher or parents; wilful absenteeism – when a learner is absent from a class wilfully; absenteeism beyond one’s control – when a learner is absent from school due to circumstances beyond his/her control such as an accident or illness.15 It seems that the characteristics and qualities of

13 Sanzila, Environmental Factors .

14 Wynand Louw and Ravinder Rena, “The impact of socio-economic factors on the performance of selected high school learners in the Western Cape, South Africa”, Journal of Human Ecology, 45 (3), 2014: 183-196.

15 Lisa Shusko, Lisa, “Absenteeism in Namibian schools. Our Peace Cops Namibia blog”, 2014/10/14, <https://shusko.wordpress.com> [accessed December 6, 2017].

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individuals determine their attendance rate at school and their efforts to succeed.16 Learners sometimes feign illness to miss school and Janiece DeSocio et al. note that some learners miss classes even for a mild illness which would not prevent them from attending.17 Learners with special needs or health and mental problems are at greater risk of being habitually absentees. According to Caron Bulter et al., students with severe health problems experience frequent interruptions throughout the school day, are often too ill to attend school and may spend a great deal of time seeking medical help.18 Chronically ill learners often miss school because they longer periods of treatment.19

Kearney suggests that age is another factor that contributes to school absence. In a study carried out in secondary schools in Australia, Monkie Muriel Moseki found that older learners are more likely to be absent from school than younger ones. Personal factors such as a lack of recognition for attending school regularly discouraged learners who would not, normally, be absent from school.20 Some learners did not attend school because peer pressure forced them to join the gangs, often involving activities during school hours.21 Bullying in the classroom or on the school grounds can also lead to absenteeism. According to Reid, learners who are bullied at school do not inform teachers or parents of the problem for fear of repercussions from bullies. Thus, avoiding the bullies by staying away from school can seem the only solution.22

Other factors such as fear of failure, lack of self-confidence, poor parenting that result in negligence, and nervousness in interacting with fellow learners may have negative impact on a learner’s school attendance. According to Kearney, school refusal behaviour is a refusal by a child to attend school or to remain in school for an entire day.23 Absenteeism is also associated with sexual promiscuity, alcohol and drug usage which can eventually lead to learners dropping out of school. Alcohol and drug usage among

16 Susan Risi, Rebecca Gerhardstein and Jane Kistner, “Children’s classroom peer relationship and subsequent educational outcomes”, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 32, 2003: 351-361.

17 Janiece DeSocio, Maureen VanCura, Linda A. Nelson, Gary Hewitt, Harriet Kitzman and Robert Cole, “Engaging truant adolescents: result from a multifaceted intervention pilot”, Prevention School Failure, 51 (3), 2007: 3-11.

18 Caron Butler, Diane Reed and Rebecca Robles-Pina, “High school student’s perceptions regarding truancy and related and related delinquent behaviors. Impact on students with special disabilities”, Journal of At- Risk Issue, 11 (2), 2005: 33-38.

19 Carol J. Kaffenberger, “School reentry for students with a chronic illness. A role for professional school counsellors”, Professional School Counseling, 9 (3), 2006: 223-230.

20 Kearney, “Interdisciplinary model”; Monkie Muriel Moseki, The Nature of Truancy and the Life World of Truants in Secondary Schools, Dissertation, University of South Africa, Pretoria, 2009, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1414> [accessed December 6, 2017].

21 Ken Reid, “The causes, views and traits of school absenteeism and truancy”, Research in Education, 74, 2005: 59-82.

22 Reid, “Search for solutions”.

23 Christopher A. Kearney, “Forms and functions of school refusal behavior in youth. An empirical analysis of absenteeism severity”, Journal of Child Psychology, Psychiatry, and Allied Discipline, 48 (1), 2007: 53-61.

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learners become can lead to addiction and health problems later in life24 and also to sexual promiscuity and unprotected sex which expose the learners to the risks of teenage pregnancy and contracting HIV/AIDS and other diseases.25

Both local and international researchers are of the opinion that family circumstances such as the socio-economic status, influence learner truancy.26 In countries such as Zambia there are many instances of families headed by orphans who have to work for a living during school hours.27 In families affected by HIV/AIDS children attend school irregularly because they are often required to care for siblings or sick parents.28 Other socio-economic factors for learner’s absenteeism are: teenage pregnancy, domestic chores, transport problems, child labour in rural areas, neighbourhoods marked by violence, child abuse, and where both parents need to work or wish to pursue a career. Some learners are from child-headed families and may depend on the community and the school to provide for their needs.29

Child labour is particularly widespread in rural areas usually where families need their children work to supplement the family income or take over duties of parents who are working in the fields or factories. Many learners in rural areas devote a certain amount of time before or after school each day to family and agricultural. While girls do domestic chores such as cooking, fetching water and firewood, the boys may stay at home to care for the livestock.30 The Nelson Mandela Foundation Research Report suggested that in rural areas in South Africa learners are frequently absent from school because their parents needed them to prepare meals at home. This report also found that learner

24 Teasley, “Absenteeism and truancy”.

25 DeSocio at al., “Truant adolescents”.

26 Moseki, Nature of Truancy ; Heather Malcolm, Valerie Wilson, Julia Davidson and Susan Kirk, Absence from School: A Study of its Causes and Effect in Seven LEAs, Research Report 424, University of Glasgow, Department of Education and Skills, The SCRA Center, 2003; Sanzila, Environmental Factors .

27 Sue Robson and Sylvester B. Kanyantta, “Orphaned and vulnerable children in Zambia. The impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic for basic education for children at risk”, Educational Research, 49, 2007: 259-272.

28 Marinda Weideman, Safiyya Goga, Daniel Lopez, Marium Mayet, Ian Macun and Davis Barry, Learner Absenteeism in the South African Schooling System, Braamfontein, Research Report for Department of Education by the Community Agency for Social Inquiry & Joint Education Trust, 2007, <http://www.jet.org.za/resources/CASE%20JET_Learner_Absenteeism_report%2C_2008.pdf/download> [accessed December 7, 2017].

29 Richard D. Sutphen, Janet P. Ford and Chris Flaherty, “Truancy interventions: a review of the research literature”, Research on Social Work Practice, 20, 2010: 161-171; Weideman et al., Absenteeism ; Robson and Kanyanta, “Children”.

30 Salman Zafar, An Assessment of Education Policy and Educational Interventions to Address Concerns Relating to Child Labor in South Africa, Research Report, Pretoria, Centre for Education Policy Development, 2005; Debbie Budlender, Child Labor and Other Work-Related Activities in South Africa, Pretoria, Department of Labor, 2006.

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absenteeism is often high in rural areas but decreases when learners move from commercial farming areas to homeland and from homeland to urban informal areas.31

Another common source of learner absenteeism in rural areas is the long distance that the learners have to walk to school when there is no proper transport infrastructure. In rural areas, there are limited hostel facilities and at times learners are unable to attend school due to adverse weather conditions. The research also cites incidents of intimi-dation of girls by boys and outsiders as a factor contributing to learner absenteeism. Some learners come to school hungry, and are too weak to participate in class. It has been reported that in South Africa 14% of children in rural areas go to school having had only a cup of tea or nothing at all to eat or drink, while 75% have had tea, bread or porridge. Inadequate nutrition results in learners becoming sick at school, showing signs of exhaustion, being unable to concentrate and performing poorly. However, school feeding programmes in most schools have encouraged school attendance.32

Maureen Hallinan maintains that teachers play a major role in shaping student attachment and commitment to school. Teachers who support their students by caring, showing them respect, and praising them encourage regular attendance.33 Learners who feel that their teacher do not support them and are not interested in their needs have more attendance problems.34 Subject matter and boredom with school activities have also been suggested as a contributing factor to absenteeism. The relationship between learners and teachers is also important. Reid is of the opinion that if learners have a poor relationship or are in conflict with their teachers they will stop going to school. Factors such as insults and humiliating remarks by teachers, also contribute to the absenteeism.35

The sexual abuse of learners by their peers or by teachers are also contributing factors. This is apparently not uncommon in most schools in Southern Africa.36 During a public hearing carried out by the South Africa Human Rights Commission it was proven that some male teachers demanded sex of female learners in exchange for food. Strict disciplinary measures, such as corporal punishment, can also lead to learner absenteeism. Kearney maintains that such punishment or fear of such punishment may

31 Nelson Mandela Foundation, Emerging Voices. A Report in Education in South Africa Rural Communities, Cape Town, HRSC, 2005.

32 UNESCO, Policy Guidelines on Inclusion in Education, 2009, <http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/ 0017/001778/177849e.pdf> [accessed December 7, 2017]; Nelson Mandela Foundation, Emerging Voices .

33 Maureen T. Hallinan, “Teachers influence on student’s attachment to school”, Sociology of Education, 81 (3), 2008: 271-283.

34 Anne Marie Lindstadt, “Employing medication to approach truants”, Family Court Review, 43, 2005: 303-322.

35 Malcolm et al., Absence from School ; Kearney, “Interdisciplinary model”; Reid, “Causes”; Moseki, Nature of Truancy .

36 Nelson Mandela Foundation, Emerging Voices .

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be a further reason for learners to stay away from school.37 Excessive homework, assessments, tests are further grounds and learners who are repeating a grade tend towards absenteeism through fear or lack of motivation. In Southern Africa, a lack of parental support with homework means learners complete tasks with little assistance and this also contributes to their truancy.38

With the gaps in knowledge caused by missing parts of courses absenteeism makes it hard for learners to achieve minimum standards. Irregular school attendance often leads to learners dropping out.39 Therefore, schools have a responsibility to ensure that learners do attend school regularly and must manage their learners’ attendance effectively. Amiena Bayar et al. noted that in certain instances classroom challenges are as a result of weak school leadership, an absence of clear rules, low learner expectations and poverty. Absent learners cannot complete and submit assignments on time, and generally perform poorly. Missing lessons means missing knowledge of the lesson. DeSocio et al. argued that children face serious academic difficulties and fall behind in their school work if they do not attend school regularly. Absenteeism usually means that the learner is unlikely to advance to the next grade and thus the risk of dropping out of school is high.40

Constant absenteeism also influences those learners, who attend school regularly. If a large number of learners in a class miss school regularly teaching and learning in that particular class is disrupted as the teacher may be forced to repeat lessons or slow down for absent learners to catch up.41 In Namibia learners absence through illness or medical treatment is a constant problem and health is seen as important as school.42

Researchers have found that long term effects of irregular school attendance are: higher school dropout rates, high unemployment rates among the drop-outs, high cost of social programmes and increased prison funding cost as drop-outs are more likely to be

37 Kearney, “Interdisciplinary model”.

38 UNESCO Windhoek, Education for all is business for all. Global Education for All Week 19-25 April 2004, Windhoek, UNESCO, 2004, <http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=25298&URL_DO= DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION= 201.html> [accessed December 7, 2017]; UNESCO, Policy Guidelines .

39 USAID Cambodia, Preventing Dropout. Reaching At-Risk Students to Ensure they Stay in School, 2015, <https://41pylqn86jp37e3n04us8vqq-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2003/01/USAID-Cambodia_SDPP.pdf > [accessed December 7. 2017].

40 Amiena Bayat, Wynand Louw and Ravinder Rena, “Investigating the confluence of factors impacting on underperformance at selected Secondary schools in Western Cape, South Africa”, International Journal of Educational Sciences, 7 (1), 2014: 41-55; Reid, “Causes”; DeSocio et al., “Truant adolescents”.

41 Robert Balfanz, Rachel Durham, Stephen Plank and others, Lost Days: Patterns and Levels of Chronic Absenteeism among Baltimore City Public School Student 1990-00 to 2005-06, Absenteeism Issue Brief, Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Education Research Consortium, 2008, <http://baltimore-berc.org/pdfs/ Attendance_issue_brief_05-13-08.pdf > [accessed December 7, 2017]; Kim Nauer, Andrew White and Rajeev Yerneni, Strengthening Schools by Strengthening Families, Center for New York City Affairs, the New School for Management and Urban Policy, New York, 2008, <http://www.communityschools.org/ assets/1/AssetManager/NYC_Strengthening%20Schools1.pdf> [accessed December 7, 2017].

42 Shusko, “Absenteeism”.

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imprisoned for criminal activities.43 Studies have found that truant learners are more expensive to educate, and need more counselling support before and after school than learners who regularly attend school.44 DeSocio et al. maintain that children may face serious academic difficulties and fall behind in their school work if they do not attend school regularly. Learners who are constantly absent from school face a higher possibility of unemployment in the future compared to those who attend school and obtain a qualification.45 Learners who dislike coming to school may have issues with learning difficulties, poor social skills, safety problems, low self-esteem, unacceptable school culture, poor teacher-parent-learner relationship, curriculum issues, bullying, alcohol abuse or even organised crime. The effective management of learner’s school attendance has a positive effect on teaching and learning in the classroom. Teachers progress well in covering their curriculum and learners benefit from attending class regularly. Reducing absenteeism in school improves discipline and generally makes the school environment more conducive to learning as bullying is significantly reduced. In Southern Africa reducing absenteeism has the benefit of uplifting learners from deprived socio-economic status and advancing their health, welfare and potential, especially for girls. Consequently, it is important in terms of preparing the future workforce. Literature points out that poverty can create classroom challenges for individual students that many schools lack the capacity or skills to address.46 When a learner stops attending school he/she often misses important lessons. In many cases the content can only be mastered with the support of a teacher. Thus, teachers have a vital role to play in the development of the learners.

Absenteeism leads to high failure rates not just in Namibian schools. Parents are partly to blame. Children are often expected to choose between staying at home, washing dishes, getting a job or going to school hungry to compensate for the money needed for their schooling. Many poor African children do not see absenteeism as a problem

43 Leanne F. Alarid, Barbara A. Sims and James Ruiz (2011). “School-based juvenile probation and police partnership for truancy reduction”, Journal of Knowledge and Best Practices in Juveline Justice & Psychology, 5 (1), 2011: 13-20; Brandy R. Maynard, Katherine T. McCrea, Therese D. Pigott and Merriam S. Kelly, “Indicated truancy interventions for chronic truant students: a campbell systematic review”, Research on Social Work Practice, 23 (1), 2013: 5-21.

44 Jay Smink and Joanna Zorn Heilbrunn, Legal and Economic Implications of Truancy. Truancy Prevention in Action, Clemson, Clemson University, National Dropout Prevention Center/Network, College of Health, Education, and Human Development, 2005, <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED491290.pdf> [accessed December 7, 2017].

45 DeSocio et al., “Truant adolescents”; Karen Broadhurst, Helen Paton and Corinne May-Chahal, “Children missing from school system: exploring divergent patterns of disengagement in the narrative accounts of parents, careers, children, and young people”, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 26 (1), 2005: 105-119; John Kane, “School exclusion and masculine, working-class identities”, Gender and Education, 18 (6), 2006: 673-685.

46 Reid, “Search for solutions”; Kenneth Leithwood, Turning Around Underperforming School System: Guidelines for Distric Leaders, Edmonton, College of Alberta School Superintendents, 2010, <http://o.b5z.net/i/u/10063916/h/Communications/CASS_Research_Paper_3_Leithwood_Turning_ Around_School_Systems.pdf > accessed December 7, 2017].

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because they are given alternatives by the parents. In rural areas parents are often not informed of their children’s absenteeism by teachers. Parents usually send their children to school and expect to hear or receive a report from teachers and school governing bodies on their children’s progress. Very often the parents will be working over a longer period in the bush and only find out when they return that their children have dropped out of school. Therefore, teachers should know the parents of each child at school so that immediate action can be taken if a child is absent for a day.47

Regular attendance has a direct effect on the school’s level of literacy, numeracy and performance in external examinations and, thus, enhances the image of the school. Reducing absenteeism in school improves discipline and, generally, makes the school environment more conducive to learning as the levels of bullying are significantly reduced.48 In the Southern Africa, reducing absenteeism has the benefit of uplifting learners from deprived socio-economic backgrounds and improving their health, welfare and potential, especially girls. Improved schooling also adds to cost-effectiveness and a reduction in poverty. The advantages are, generally, social-economic and, consequently, they are important for a developing nation in terms of preparing a future workforce to meet the demands of the workplace.49

Successful schools engage students through ensuring that learners come to school regularly. Weideman et al. maintain that the strategies most schools in South Africa use in reducing learner’s absenteeism are: sport and other extra-curricular activities, merits/ demerits, awarding and recognizing good school attendance, and improved relation-ships between the school and the community.50 Schools should also provide adequate clubs and societies to keep students busy when they are out of class. Furthermore, schools should strive to have up-to-date learning facilities such as libraries as well as sporting facilities to enhance student retention. The primary school nutrition programme has contributed to improved school attendance. In Tanzania, a study on primary school attendance among the most vulnerable children indicates that providing school fees, food assistance and holding support meetings improves learners attendance. According to information obtained by the Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE) and the Joint Education Trust (JET), there is a collection of good practice strategies that focuses on learners which include the individual tutoring of learners with complex problems at school and home visits and counselling for learners with particular needs. Peer tutoring has also become an intervention at schools by which older learners are trained to work with younger learners who have attendance problems. Within mentoring programmes

47 Shusko, “Absenteeism”.

48 Great Schools Staff, Why Attendance Matters, June 9, 2016 <https://www.greatschools.org/ gk/articles/ school-attendance-issues/> [accessed December 7, 2017]; Reid, “Search for solutions”.

49 UNESCO Bangkok, Impact of Incentives on Girl’s Access to and Retention in Basic Education, Bangkok: UNESCO, 2004, <http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001378/137807e.pdf> [accessed December 7, 2017]; UNESCO, Policy Guidelines .

50 Weideman et al., Absenteeism .

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learners have a regular check-in and check-out type process. Mentors are also able to check the learner's school work and see how their academic performance improves.51

Martell Lee Teasley suggests that family and school should work as a single unit where schools support parents in becoming more involved in ensuring that their children attend school. Furthermore, in this intervention the school supports family-school teamwork, the school encourages families to discipline children for low attendance. In the teamwork strategy, schools are continually in contact with families regarding learner attendance. Teasley believes that community organizations and learner involvement outside their home within their community have been successful in reducing learner absenteeism. After school, community organizations are available to learners to support them with their schoolwork and give them a sense of achievement.52

Having a community around the learner’s home that assists with learner needs plays an important role in encouraging regular school attendance. Motivation is also significant in reducing absenteeism. In the UK and the US, attendance guidelines are applied for monitoring learner absenteeism using attendance register figures as the first step to curb the problem.53 Sanzila pointed out that in order to improve school attendance non-promotional subjects such as life skills should be taught as this would cover life orientation activities which help learners to become better and more responsible citizens. This will help them to improve their behaviour at school, knowledge and skills and motivate them to attend school regularly.54

According to the National Center for Student Engagement, schools are more effective in achieving high attendance rates when they take the following action at school level: Make the school a place where parents and learners feel welcome; forge a relationship with local law enforcement and make them allies in showing the community, family and learners that school is a good place to be; forge a relationship with local businesses so that they cooperate in encouraging learners to go to school and not to congregate elsewhere during school hours; call parents when their children are not in school to let them know the school is concerned; talk to learners about why they were absent and let them know that they were missed in the classroom.55

Theoretical framework and research method This article draws on ethic of care theory which provides a framework for the study and focus on caring relationships developed by Nel Nodding and Carol Gilligan.56 The ethic of

51 Teasley, “Absenteeism and truancy”; DeSocio et al., “Truant adolescents”.

52 Teasley, “Absenteeism and truancy”; Weideman et al., Absenteeism .

53 Weideman et al., Absenteeism . 54 Sanzila, Environmental Factors .

55 Great Schools Staff, Attendance .

56 Nel Nodding, Caring a Feminine Approach to Ethics & Moral Education, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1984; Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1982.

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care is about love and establishing a relationship that empowers others. In this framework, Nodding argues that the relationship between the two should be a caring one where patience and commitment are the key factors that enables the care giver to assist the ‘care receiver’ to realize his/her full potential.57 The approach utilized to understand strategies that teachers use to manage learner absenteeism is not based on gender but on the way in which both male and female teachers manage learners’ behaviour to reduce learner absenteeism. Nodding argues further that a caring relationship in education is based on modelling, dialogue, practice and confirmation. This means that as role models teachers need to demonstrate care for others, engage in dialogue and encourage others to develop. Modelling gives teachers the opportunity to care through their individual association with their learners; they do not merely talk about care but rather actively demonstrate it in the relationship with them.

The dialogue element of caring relates to the increase and preservation of affiliation between helpful individual and the person being cared for. Dialogue is discussion and paying attention to the person receiving care and enables teachers and learners to talk about their problems and find solutions. Confirmation is an act of establishing and promoting the most excellent traits in teachers in order to increase helpful connections with their learners. According to Nodding, confirmation of learners emerges for a caring teacher when creating a relationship based on trust.58 According to the framework of ethic of care, teachers are expected to create an affiliation with their students to enhance a helpful and conducive classroom environment to assist in the acquisition of knowledge. An ethic of care begins from the premises that teachers are in control of learner’s attendance and once the learners realize that the teachers care about them they will become more actively involved in the classroom and will want to attend school.

This article deals with two main research questions: what are the classroom challenges faced by teachers in terms of learner absenteeism and how do teachers address these challenges? A qualitative research design was employed to identify those challenges and how the teachers manage them. This design was considered suitable because it examines an incident in a usual location where the focus is on understanding the social incident holistically. Qualitative research concentrates on the meanings attached to particular viewpoints or context and since different people or groups often have different viewpoints, a particular phenomenon can have many different meanings. Qualitative research typically answers questions regarding natural phenomena with the purpose of describing and understanding the phenomena from the participants’ point of view. The participants in this study were selected by using a purposive sampling procedure, as opposed to random sampling, in order to include those with potential to provide a rich vein of data and comprehensive descriptions. This method requires participants with useful, in-depth and unique perspectives of the phenomenon.

57 Nel Nodding, “An ethics of caring and its implication for instructional arrangements”, American Journal of Education, 96 (2), 1988: 215-230.

58 Nel Nodding, The Challenges to Care in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Education, New York, Teachers College Press, 1992.

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This article focuses on the data collected from four primary schools in rural areas of the Kavango region with a sample of eight teachers of which two per selected schools were purposively selected. Interpretive research uses a small sample or even single cases, selected purposefully to allow the researcher to focus in-depth on issues important to a study. Moreover, in-depth semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. I chose interview as data collection strategy for this study because interviews would enable the participants to talk about and interpret their experiences and communicate how they observe circumstances from their individual perspectives.59

The intention of the researcher was not to generalize findings because the small sample size does not represent the wider population of those who have experienced the phenomenon. Teachers between 25–55 years of age and with 5–25 years of teaching experience were selected. It emerged that these teachers attended Teacher Training Institution/ In-services training and qualified to teach at primary schools. Seven of the participants were male and one was female. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. In this study, the transcribed data was coded and organized in groups and sub-groups according to correspondent and theme. Moreover, the written text and interviews were classified and categorized. The research question and aim of the study were used as a guide in analysis of the data. The interviews were conducted at the schools after school hours. The participants were required to answer a set of predetermined questions related to their experiences and to express their views about challenges faced by teachers when learners are absent from school and about learner absenteeism management strategies. The questions asked allowed for probing for clarification of answers and for further details. The duration of the interviews was one hour for each participant. As the researcher, I ensured a deep and broad range of data by using multiple participants.

With regard to ethical issues, I applied to the Department of Education in the Kavango region for permission to visit schools and conduct the research. Furthermore, I also applied to the university of Pretoria ethical committee for ethical clearance. The participants were told about the nature of the study to be conducted and were requested to sign a letter of consent. Participants were also assured of confidentiality, anonymity and the intended use of the collected data, that their participation in the study was voluntary and that they had the right to withdraw from the study at any time.

Findings and discussions The study revealed a number of factors contributing to learner absenteeism and the ensuing challenges faced by teachers. Teachers perceived these factors as family, individual, school, environmental and socio-economic. Most teachers were concerned about learners being obliged to carry out domestic chores at home and in the fields

59 See, inter alia, Sharon B. Merriam, Qualitative Research. A Guide to Design and Implementation, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2009; Lovis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison, Research Methods in Education, New York, Routledge, 2005.

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instead of attending school. As one teacher said: “Some of the problems I have realized that stop learners from attending school are cattle herding, ploughing, labor, domestic chores and hunting. Further I can say that they stay home with siblings to care for them instead of coming to school.” These findings confirm those of a previous study which reports that many learners in rural areas spend time before or after school each day on family and agricultural chores such as herding cattle, fetching water or firewood and boys especially stay home to look after livestock.60 Such child labour is common in rural areas.61

The teachers also cited various personal reasons for absenteeism such as female learners’ menstrual period, lack of motivation especially among over-aged learners, sickness and early marriage: “Some problem I realised is menstruation. Some learners miss school because of it. Moreover, other learners are afraid to come to school because of not doing homework given to them and during menstruation period.” Similarly, Weidman et al. suggest other socio-economic reasons for learner absenteeism such as teenage pregnancy. School absenteeism because of not doing homework was a unique finding in this study. Kearney however also found that too much homework could contribute to learner absenteeism and could result in a fear of assessment tests. Similarly, studies done by UNESCO in 2004 and 2009 found that in Southern African a lack of parental support with homework left learners with too great a task to complete without assistance and this encouraged truancy. Learners also cited not seeing the benefit of attending school regularly as a reason for their absence.62

Some teachers were of the opinion that some learners did not come to school because of hunger: “Hunger is unforeseen problem; therefore, learners may not come to school if they do not have something to eat at home.” Another teacher said “poverty leaves children without hope for education to improving their living conditions as they are left vulnerable to the risk of dropping out of school.” A similar finding was cited in the Nelson Mandela Research Report where it was noted that hunger is contributing factor to learner absenteeism as some learners go to school without having had any breakfast or having missed a meal as they appear weak and do not participate in class.63

Teachers believe that the learner absenteeism is also seasonal. Many learners were often absent from school during cold, rain and harvesting period; and other learners walked a long distance to school which made their school attendance irregular due to fatigue. As one teacher stated: “Some problem that I find out with learners in my classroom are that they walk long distance to school and during cold, rainy and harvesting period they do not attend school regularly”. Another said in my “experience there is a problem of learner’s absenteeism in my classroom which involve all learners

60 Nelson Mandela Foundation, Emerging Voices .

61 Sutphen et al., “Truancy”, Weideman et al., Absenteeism .

62 Weideman et al., Absenteeism ; Kearney, “Interdisciplinary model”; UNESCO Windhoek, Education ; UNESCO, Policy Guidelines .

63 Nelson Mandela Foundation, Emerging Voices .

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coming far away from school and those staying nearby the school, the learners usually are absent on Mondays and Fridays”. This finding confirms one in the UNESCO report that suggests that having to walk long distances to school in rural areas where there is no proper transport infrastructure may be the cause of learner absenteeism.64 Another cause unique to this study is learners being absent from school on pension pay day when they are required to escort their parents to pay stations.

Other causes mentioned by the teachers were lack of interest, teachers’ approach, pampered learners, private coaching, diseases, school infrastructure and entertainment. One said that “if the content is difficult for the learners to grasp hence this will push them away from school”. Furthermore, it was stated, “schools lack school libraries, sport facilities as this may hinder their attendance at school among learners”. With poor learner attendance and pressure to complete their syllabus on time valuable tuition time is wasted while teachers sort out problems resulting from school violence.65

Learner absenteeism was seen by all teachers as an extra burden to their teaching load. They spoke of having to repeat lessons for the absent learners when they return to school, a practice which was time consuming and which prevented teachers reaching their goals. Learner assessments were also regarded as problematic by the teachers. They felt they could not help learners who attend school irregularly to achieve all the learning goals. One teacher said: “The teaching and learning will not have materialized as planned as a teacher, I have to repeat the same lesson again and again to those learners who were not in the classroom, and the assessment that could be done in the same day to meet the basic competencies will not work as planned.” Another teacher said: “As a teacher, this will require my extra time to cover with those learners and this will lead not to cover all basic competencies required in a term.” “This becomes overload with extra work to me as a teacher, I need to cover two groups of learners during my given/allocated time.” “I have to repeat the lesson presented to absent learners.”

When learners are absent from the classroom they are unable to do homework or submit assignments on time.66 This may result in an underachievement or poor performance. Moreover teachers complained of having to find ways of helping absent learners to catch up with the rest of the learners and avoid failing to pass into the next grade as well as becoming more at risk of dropping out of school.

Another challenge that was mentioned was learners who did not comply with school rules. All teachers interviewed mention that absentee learners had a negative attitude towards school rules and education in general. Experiences were cited where parents confronted teachers about learner discipline matters and this frustrated some of the teachers. One teacher said that: “Some parents threaten me as a teacher for punishing

64 UNESCO, Policy Guidelines .

65 Nelson Vusumzi Ncontsa and Almon Shumba, “The nature, causes and effects of school violence in South African high schools”, South African Journal of Education, 33 (3), 2013: 1-15.

66 Reid, “Causes”.

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their child for being absent from my classroom, and no strict rules at schools regarding absenteeism as well as learners attitude towards education is a problem at this school.” Another teacher said: “One of my challenges is parents’ attitude as they do not allow me as a teacher to punish their children when they are absent from school. They sometimes come to school angry with me and want to fight because I have punished the child.” Maria De Lourdes Mata et al. argued that various interrelated variables such as background, motivation and social support could lead to learners having negative attitudes towards school rules which may result in absenteeism.67 Most learners in the rural primary schools where the study was conducted come from poor families so it was difficult for them to understand or comply with school rules and this led to irregular attendance.

Unsupportive parents who do not come to school when invited by teachers to discuss their children’s conduct were also seen as a problem. Experiences were cited where parents confronted teachers about disciplinary matters and this frustrated some of the teachers. As one teacher stated: “Some parents do not come when invited to school or even come to attend a well-informed parent meeting at school.” The parental role according to this study differs from that cited in the literature because parents in rural Namibia tend to be poorly educationed and thus do not value education. They are therefore unable to motivate their children to attend school regularly. Education is more highly valued among families in urban areas where more parents are literate. Parents in rural areas have little knowledge of education, they do not visit schools – even when they are invited by the teacher and they do not attend teacher-parent meetings. Teachers further argued that parents do not care whether their children are in the class or not as they assumed that the teacher had the sole responsibility ensuring that their children attend school. One teacher declared: “The parents are contributing a lot to the challenges due to the fact that they do not visit school to see how their children are attending classes.” Moreover, “they do not even care about the attendance of their children at school and even check the attendance record at school.”

According to Horvatin some parents have communication problems with the school because of language barriers.68 It is evident from the data collected that there are no school-parents partnership programmes which can provide a platform where parents can become more involved in combating learner absenteeism. When asked about parent activities organized at school one teacher mentioned that parents are expected to support the school by attending parent meetings. This implies that the teachers do not see availability of other parental programmes as important for enabling parents to share their views and contribute to improving attendance. Parents need support if they are to participate in important school activities and contribute effectively towards an

67 Maria De Lourdes Mata, Vera Monteiro and Francisco Peixoto, “Attitude towards mathematics: Effects of individual motivational and social support factors”, Child Development Research, 2012, doi:10.1155/2012/876028.

68 Lindsay J. Horvatin, “Perceived barriers to parental involvement in schools”. A research paper submitted for Masters of Science Degree in Schooling Counseling, University of Wisconsin, The Graduate School, 2011.

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improvement strategy in reducing learner absenteeism. Support for parents could also entail provision of basic literacy programmes for those parents that are illiterate so that they would be in a position assist their children with homework and school attendance. Teachers in the study identified support from parents and other stakeholders as the key to overcoming school attendance and teaching and learning problems. It is evident from the findings that teachers in the schools visited are not well supported and that this is because the principals themselves often do not have the required knowledge or skills to assist teachers appropriately.

Concerns were raised about school boards which many teachers considered to be dysfunctional. When asked about the support and involvement of the school board, one teacher stated: “In our area, most parent are not well educated and such they feel less confident in participating and contributing toward school attendance and improving the school.” The same is true of parent members of school boards. “School board becomes dysfunctional because of their lack of participation and involvement in school activities, which I understand could be because of their lack of understanding of what is expected from them.”

Another important factor mentioned by one teacher was that “some children stay with their grandparents and this impacts negatively on parental involvement.” These grandparents are unable to participate in school activities and assist their children with school work. One of the teachers stated: “Some stay with grandparents, others with only their siblings as parents are working outside the area.” “Some learners live in child headed households and the parents only come once a month. This creates a challenge because there is no homework supervision at home.” “The parent’s inability to attend parent meetings creates a communication backlog between the school and the parents.” Parental involvement improves academic success, school attendance and learner motivation. This is supported by Aurora Adamski et al. who argue that a positive school-home partnership improves learner performance.69 However, there are various reasons that contribute to inadequate parental involvement. As mentioned earlier by one teacher; most of the parents in the schools visited are from disadvantaged low-income backgrounds, and do not always understand school policies.

The interviews with teachers reveals that strategies used by teachers to reduce absenteeism can be categorized as school-based, individual educator-based and harmonious relationship based strategies. The teachers spoke of school feeding programmes and free primary education as factors that both encouraged learners to attend school regularly because they know that they are going to eat there and were not expected to pay any fees. The study further reveals that learners who attend school regularly were recognized and acknowledged at the morning assembly. Extra-curricular activities such as soccer, netball, choral singing, award ceremonies where certificates were given to students with good attendance record and gifts such as sweets and pens as motivational tools were used to encourage regular attendance. Other methods used

69 Aurora Adamski, Barry J. Fraser and Maria M. Peiro, “Parental involvement in schooling, classroom environment and student outcomes”, Learning Environment Research, 16, 2013: 315-328.

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by teachers included sharing their own personal experiences, making lessons interesting, encouraging learners to participate during lesson by involving them in class activities, and giving learners responsibilities that meant they were committed to attend school.

Furthermore, the study reveals that the teacher relationship with individual learners was strengthened by motivational talks. A peer support system was used to motivate learners to attend school and at the same time encourage learners to care for others learners. Teachers also did remedial teaching and gave extra work to assist learners who did not attend school regularly. Collaborative strategies, such as talking to the parents of the learners who are often absent from school to try to solve the problem together and working with other teachers to encourage regular school attendance, are also used by the teachers. Other acts of care include talking to learners, who were absent from school during their menstrual cycle, about personal care and providing them with sanitary pads.

Conclusion Learner absenteeism is a problem in all the schools sampled in the study. For the schools to address the problem it is important to identify the causes. Once singled out, understood and analyzed the issue can be addressed with specific actions and measures. The teachers interviewed for the study saw the roots of the problem in family, individual, school and socio-economic factors. Most of the teachers were of concerned that learners were involved in domestic chores at home and in the fields. Hunger was also seen as a cause as were the distances some learners have to walk to school. Another previously unrecorded cause was learners being required to escort their parents to pay stations on pension day. Teachers also felt the lack of teacher-parent partnerships was a contributing factor. Most of the teachers maintained that parents do not come to school when they are invited by the teacher. Some argued that parents do not care whether their children are in the class or not as they see it as the responsibility of the teacher. As most parents in rural areas are poorly educated they are unable to motivate their children to value education. Absenteeism of learners was experienced by all teachers as an extra burden. They talked of having to repeat lessons for absent learners which made it more difficult for learners who are always in the class to achieve the required basic competencies. If a large number of learners are absent from the school every day then the proper teaching and learning will not take place.

The strategies teachers use to reduce learner absenteeism can be categorized as school-based, individual, educator-based and harmonious relationship-based strategies. These strategies include extra-curricular, awards, and recognition for good attendance. In addition school feeding programmes were also cited as a contributing factor. A unique finding from the study is effects of peer support systems whereby some learners such as head boys/girls mentor others and inspire them to be self-motivated when it comes to attending school regularly. Although most of the findings in this study are similar to those that have been reported in earlier studies, the main contribution of this article is

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the application of ethic of care theory to the strategies teachers use to encourage learners school attendance. This theory focuses on caring for learners to improve their school attendance in a rural context. With this theory of care in the context of education, teachers show their love and support for each and every learner when they experience absenteeism in order to motivate them to come to school regularly. The teachers may also visit homes, arrange meetings to address the problem, talk to parents and involve other teachers. The modelling aspect of care calls for teachers to know each and every learner’s name and call them by their names during lessons. The study found that by discussing the issue directly with the learners with poor attendance records teachers were able to find the causes or reasons for absenteeism on a particular day. Through the process of supporting learners teachers involve parents by informing them of their responsibilities in ensuring that their children attend school regularly. Others teachers also shared their own life experiences with the learners.

In the practice of the theory of care teachers give the opportunity to learners to care for others, especially absent learners. Absent learners are thus often inspired to attend school every day. In this study teachers demonstrated how this can work by assigning other learners to help fellow learners. This could mean that class representatives ensure absent learners attend by walking to school with them. The teachers also visit the learners at home to assess the situation and talk to parents. The theory of care principle allows teachers to create their relationship or support based on trust and openness which is the best way to care for learners and encourage them to attend school every day. Over and above this it seems that teachers in rural schools need to identify the cause of learner absenteeism, the classroom challenges in terms of learner absenteeism and be creative in finding ways of improving school attendance by addressing the needs of individual learners.

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