6
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER, 2016
RESEARCH
Dr Paul Balwant is a lecturer in Human Resource Management at the Department of Management Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences.
This article is based on his publication in the International Journal of Employment Studies, which can be read at the journal’s website
)
or at Dr Balwant’s personal webpage (
).
Secondary school teacher
absenteeism has become
increasingly problematic in
Trinidad and Tobago over
the past decade. Excessive
absenteeism in a labour
i nt ens i ve f i e l d such a s
education is particularly
problematic for numerous
reasons. Some of the major
re a s ons are : ( 1 ) h i r i ng
substitute teachers is difficult,
costly, and can be ineffective,
(2) unanticipated absences
can adversely affect students’
academic performance, and
(3) students tend to regard
their teachers as role models,
and thus imitate their teachers’
absence behaviour.
Tr i n i dad and Tobago’s
government has been seeking
ways to address teacher absenteeism.
To do so, our government must first identify the
antecedents of teacher absenteeism so that policies
can be designed based on these factors. I identify
a few of these antecedents in a recent study titled,
Socio-Demographic Predictors of Secondary School
Teacher Absenteeism in Trinidad that was published
in the International Journal of Employment Studies.
For the study, I used a sample of 146 secondary school
teachers from eight schools in Trinidad. The findings
show that age and form teacher position are predictors
of teacher absenteeism, evenwhen controlling for prior
absenteeism – the strongest predictor of absenteeism,
job scope, and teaching load.
Younger teachers are more frequently absent than
their elder counterparts. Younger individuals tend to
seek a ‘boundaryless’ career – one in which they can
continuously explore job opportunities by moving in
and out of various organisations. Therefore, policies
may need to be directed towards making the teaching
profession more attractive towards younger teachers,
for example, more opportunities for promotion. In
addition, recruiters should use realistic job previews
Secondary School
TEACHER ABSENTEEISM
in Trinidad
B Y P A U L B A L W A N T
(RJPs) in order to paint an accurate picture of what a
teaching job entails. A RJP describes both the positive
and negative attributes of a job. RJPs can shape young
teachers’ expectations of what the teaching job gives
them in return for what they give to the job. The
intention here is to set realistic job expectations, which
may then reduce absenteeism.
Teachers who hold form teacher positions are
less absent than those who do not hold this position.
The form teacher position should provide higher skill
variety, task identity, task significance, and autonomy
than regular teacher positions. Based on this finding,
secondary schools should enrich regular teachers’ jobs
in a similar fashion to form teachers because doing so
may motivate teachers to come to work. At the same
time, teachers’ growth need strengthmay influence the
degree to which the use of job enrichment strategies
reduce absenteeism, and hence further research is
needed here.
In addition to age and form teacher position, the
study shows that gender and number of young children
are marginal predictors of teacher absenteeism.
With respect to gender, women
teachers are more absent than
men teachers. This finding may
be because women teachers
may have a lower status in
comparison to men teachers,
which may lead to women
teachers becoming withdrawn
from their school. If further
research confirms that women
teachers are more absent than
men teachers, then potential
causes of this difference need
to be investigated further, for
example, women’s participation
and leadership in decision
making in secondary schools.
Te ache r s wi t h young
children are more absent than
those without young children.
Teachers with young children have
extra childcare commitments that
may lead to increased absenteeism.
Schools may need to implement daycare centers or
childcare programmes, both of which have been
successful in reducing absenteeism in other countries.
Another strategy may be to temporarily give teachers
with young children more flexible teaching schedules
that can minimise unanticipated absences.
Overall, the study’s findings are meant to assist
local governing bodies and school authorities with
the development of policies geared towards reducing
teacher absenteeism.The above mentioned prevention
techniques can be targeted towards those sub-groups
of teachers that are most prone to absenteeism. These
sub-groups are young teachers and those who are not
form teachers. In addition, women teachers and those
with young children may also be more vulnerable to
absence behaviour, but further research is needed
here. Finally, marital status, education, and position
of dean are all unrelated to teacher absenteeism. These
findings on secondary school teacher absenteeism
should be used as a platform for investigations into
the psychological and social processes that underlie
the ‘hard’ socio-demographic predictors.
Teachers with young children are more absent than those without young children. Teachers with
young children have extra childcare commitments that may lead to increased absenteeism.
