Absentéisme

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La relation absentéisme et résultats académiques

• Les enseignants pensent généralement qu'assister au cours a un effet positif sur la réussite. Cependant, le bon sens n'est pas forcément toujours corroboré par des résultats empiriques (LeBlanc_2005).
• De nombreuses études montrent des corrélations significatives entre présence au cours et réussite, ou entre nombre d'absences et échec. Ces résultats sont robustes quel que soit l'établissement, le niveau des étudiants ou la matière enseignée (voir LeBlanc_2005, Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012 ou Ghenghesh_Nakhla_2011 pour de nombreuses références).

• Il s'agit cependant de corrélations, et certains auteurs (comme LeBlanc_2005) en déduisent un peu vite un lien de causalité.
• La motivation est une des variables cachées qui pourraient expliquer la corrélation :
  • In this paper there is a concern that students with higher levels of motivation are more likely to attend their lectures as well as achieve higher grades. In fact, there is some evidence that unobserved heterogeneity explains more about student achievement than observable inputs such as attendance (Martins & Walker, 2006). Also, it is generally accepted that more able and motivated students are more likely to both attend and to score highly in their courses (Arulampalam, Naylor & Smith, 2008).Finally, Bandiera, Larcinese and Rasul (2010) state that underlying student characteristics (such as ability ormotivation) are the most important determinants of academic achievement. (Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012).
  • Romer (1993)shows that the effect of class attendance is positive and significant; however, its magnitude is greatly reduced by the inclusion of proxies for motivation. (Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012).
  • Results from fixed effects regression (...) show that lecture attendance is not associated with higher grade-scores, once unobserved stable traits are taken into account by using fixed effects estimation.27 This finding is in opposed to the majority of existing research on the relationship between lecture attendance and grades. However, the use of fixed effects regression for models of student achievement is a relatively recent development. Existing panel studies on the relationship between lecture attendance and grades are rare. Gendron and Pieper (2005), Cohn and Johnson (2006), Stanca (2006) and Arulampalam, Naylor and Smith (2008) all find a strong relationship between attendance and achievement, using fixed effects regression. However, Martins and Walker (2006) find that class attendance is statistically insignificant after controlling for student fixed effects. There is now a clear division in the small literature that uses repeated measures of attendance and achievement to investigate this topic. (Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012).
• Une autre variable pas toujours contrôlée est le temps d'étude : un étudiant présent à un cours de 2h a de facto deux heures "d'étude" du cours de plus qu'un absent. Certaines études trouvent un effet de la présence au cours quand ce facteur est contrôlé, d'autres non :
  • Schmidt (1983) reports that hours spent attending lectures (and class-discussions) positively affects course grades, even after controlling for additional hours of study (that is, personal study). (Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012)
  • Using a sample of first-year Economics students from Italy (n= 71), Bratti (2002) finds that the positive and significant effect of attendance on achievement is not robust to the inclusion of additional study-hours. (Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012)
• Il faut également rappeler qu'être présent au cours ne signifie pas forcément s'engager activement :
  • As Crede, Roch and Kieszczynka (2010) note,“Physical presence in a classroom… encapsulates a very wide range of possible student behaviours, ranging from students wholisten to the professor, take notes, and attempt to understand the material and integrate it with their existing knowledge structureto students who may be physically present but engage in few of the behaviours or cognitive processes that are likely to result inlearning.” (Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012).
• Les recherches sur l'absentéisme prennent rarement en compte les composantes du dispositif et notamment les supports de cours, qui pourraient avoir une incidence sur la participation (cf. les recherches de Nicolas Roland sur le podcast).
• Enfin, à noter que la présence au cours peut avoir un effet positif sur autre chose que les résultats purs:
  • While the results of this paper do not demonstrate any benefit from attending lectures over a two-year time-period, no inference can be drawn about the effect of attendance over the entire duration of higher education. Also, lectures may have other benefits besides their potential effect on grade-scores.Attending lectures could be beneficial for adjustment into college, the formation of peer-networks, theaccumulation of social capital, and student well-being more generally. (Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012).

Facteurs influençant la présence au cours

• Facteurs liés à l'étudiant
  • Le fait d'être un étudiant non traditionnel a un impact négatif (travail, charges familiales,...) (Schuetze & Slowey 2002 cités par LeBlanc_2005).
  • Les étudiants entrant à l'université ont besoin de plus de support social (Packam & Miller 2000 cités par LeBlanc_2005).
  • Maladie, problèmes familiaux :
    • ‘Illness/family problems’ accounting for 14% of Hunter & Tetley’s (1999) responses, 37% of Pithers & Holland’s (2007) business students, about 26% of Paisey & Paisey’s (2004) accounting students and as high as 72% for Kottasz (2005) study. (Ghenghesh_Nakhla_2011)

• Facteurs liés au programme
  • La charge de travail dans les autres cours semble souvent la raison principale.
    • "From the available published research findings ‘work on other assignments’ has tended to rank high in the reasons given for not attending lectures. The results of a study at Lincoln University found that 40% of the reasons given for non-attendance at lectures were the pressure of other learning tasks (Fleming, 1995). For Hunter and Tetley (1999) it ranked as the number one reason in their UK study with 43% of students claiming to miss lectures because of it. In another study conducted in the UK, it has also been reported as high as 61% and ranked as the second most prominent reason for missing lectures (Kottasz, 2005). Similarly, it ranked second for 32% of students at a Scottish University (Paisey & Paisey, 2004) and third by 51% of students in Australia (Pithers & Holland, 2007)." (Ghenghesh_Nakhla_2011)
  • Le moment où tombe le cours, les cours entre 10h du matin et 3h de l'après-midi ayant plus de taux de présence
    • "The ‘timing of the class’ also has an impact on student attendance. Fifty percent of Kottasz (2005) respondents claimed that inconvenient lecture times were reasons for missing lectures while other researchers reported 20% (Hunter & Tetley, 1999) and 16% (Fleming, 1995). Findings have shown that classes scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. will have better attendance (Paisey & Paisey, 2004; Devadoss & Foltz, 1996)." (Ghenghesh_Nakhla_2011)
  • Longueur du cours : les formats plus courts sont préférés
    • "Furthermore, the ‘length of the class’ is also a factor that some students see as a reason for non-attendance. It has been reported that students may prefer a shorter lecture (50 minutes) three times per week over a longer lecture (75 minutes) given twice a week (Devadoss & Foltz, 1996)." (Ghenghesh_Nakhla_2011)
  • Pauses entre les cours :
    • ‘Two or more hour breaks’ before or after a class was another reason found for not attending class (Fjortoft, 2005). (Ghenghesh_Nakhla_2011)
  • Taille de la classe - les petites classes favorisant la participation :
    • Larger class-size is associated with non-attendance (Friedman, Rodriguez & McComb, 2001). Grise and Kennedy (2003) show thatstudents perceive smaller theatres to allow for greater interaction between lecturers and students. Students may be less attentivein larger classes, or may compensate for larger classes by exerting more effort outside of lecture times (Bolander, 1973; Feldman,1984; McConnell & Sosin, 1984). Instructors may be better able to identify the ability and interests of the median student insmaller classes, or be more able to answer students’ questions directly (Bandiera, Larcinese & Rasul, 2010). (Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012).

• Facteurs liés à l'enseignant
  • Une politique volontariste (demander la présence ou récompenser la présence) a un impact positif, même si les étudiants n'apprécient pas forcément la contrainte (LeBlanc_2005).
  • La qualité de l'enseignement dispensé a un effet important :
    • Classes which are considered to be ‘boring’, ‘a waste of time’, and ‘unnecessary’ can have a strong effect on student motivation and attendance. Results indicate that if students find the lectures and material boring, they will more than likely not attend (Kottasz, 2005; Romer, 1993; Fjortoft, 2005, Devadoss & Foltz, 1996; Hunter & Tetley, 1999; Massingham & Herrington, 2006). Poor lecturing was also found to be an important factor for non-attendance (Fleming 1992; Kottasz, 2005). Along similar lines, uninteresting and unclear lecturers ranked as the second most important factor for non-attendance in Pithers and Holland (2007) study. ‘Unchallenging classes’ was another factor that has a significant impact on the percentage of lectures that students attend (Hunter & Tetley, 1999; Kottasz, 2005; Dolnicar, Kaiser, Matus & Vialle, 2009). (Ghenghesh_Nakhla_2011)
    • Poor lecture quality is a reason often reported by students for non-attendance (Romer, 1993; Friedman, Rodriguez & McComb,2001; Dolnicar, 2005; Kottasz, 2005; Clay & Breslow, 2006; Massingham & Herrington, 2006; Arulampalam, Naylor & Smith, 2008;Lang Joyce, Conaty & Kelly 2008). (Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012).

Faut-il pénaliser l'absentéisme / récompenser la présence au cours?

• According to a meta-analysis by Crede, Roch and Kieszczynka (2010), mandatory attendance policies have a small positive impact on grades. However, there is much debate on what incentives or penalties are appropriate in this regard, as penalising students for not showing up can be seen as double jeopardy : that is, students would be likely to get lower grades as well as being affected by an attendance-penalty. Stephenson and Deere (1994) suggest that lecture attendance should not be mandatory by making the following arguments:students are missing the least productive classes, a captive audience is not an ideal learning environment, students should be allowed to maximise utility, attendance policies are difficult to implement. (Delaney_Harmon_et_al_2012).