THE ACADEMIC ABSENTEEISM AND ITS MORE OBVIOUS RESULTS

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the relationship between absenteeism and academic performance in the Accounting Sciences Course. For this purpose, a documentary research was realized in a Brazilian public institution. With the course coordination permission, several information were analyzed concerning the participation of 1,525 students in 715 courses taught in the period between the first semester of 2009 and the second semester of 2013, totaling 29,839 observations. From these observations, the following variables were analyzed: academic performance, class size, period, turn, course load and not assiduous (absenteeism measure). The results indicated that all the variables investigated are significantly correlated to academic performance of students. However, the variable that had the strongest correlation was absenteeism. These results suggest that the first consequence of absenteeism is the decline in academic performance, as had been previously identified by other researchers. It was also identified that absenteeism is significantly correlated with all the variables mentioned before. Thus, students who are in more filled rooms, of the day turn, of the final periods and enrolled in courses with higher course loads tend to have higher absenteeism levels. In addition, it was found that 32.9% of evaded students in the period researched had had reproofs for lack between 2009 and 2013, evidenced thereby, the second serious consequence of absenteeism, the evasion.