Browsing by Subject "ongelmalliset poissaolot"

The purpose of this study was to examine the connections between problematic school absenteeism and lack of motivation, as known as amotivation. The connections were examined by analyzing responses of pupils. I define problematic absenteeism as voluntary absences and/or chronic absences which is over 10 percent of school time missed. The data I used was collected prior my study by the Centre for Educational Assessment in the University of Helsinki. Data was collected as a part of a survey project concerning absences, and it includes both quantitative multidisciplinary and qualitative semi-structured data. 399 responses were collected from pupils of primary school’s grades 4 through 9. This study was designed to examine the quantity of pupils’ absence’s, especially voluntary, the connection between absences and amotivation and the differences between grade or sex-based groups regarding absences and amotivation. I completed these analyzes with qualitative examination of the kinds of themes that could be identified from responses of students regarding the connection between amotivation and absenteeism. I used both quantitative and qualitative parts of the data in accordance with mixed method research strategy. I supplemented the quantitative analyzes by quantifying and thematizing the semi-structural qualitative data. According to the research result, every fifth of the respondents had chronic absences. Voluntary absences were not reported by a considerably large part of respondents, and if voluntary absences were reported, their duration was most likely 1-2 days. Absenteeism was very significantly connected with all investigated components of amotivation. Regarding the number of absences, there were no differences between grade levels or genders. There were differences in the occurrence of amotivation between grades, and it would seem that elementary school and middle school pupils differ in terms of amotivation. 5 themes related to the connection between absenteeism and amotivation were identified from responses. These themes were motivation in general, actions of the teacher or teaching, the relevance and actions of the school, social relations and truancy. This study succeeded to show that there is a connection between amotivation and absenteeism. Reducing and preventing amotivation is an easy and economical opportunity to prevent problematic absences. Thus, taken these results into notion, it should be considered what factors could reduce amotivation in school context.