Teachers' Perspectives of Teacher Voluntary Absences

Voluntary teacher absenteeism disproportionately affects low-income students, negatively affects student achievement, and costs school districts thousands of dollars each year in substitute teacher salaries. The monies spent for substitute teachers are a concern and so is the substitute's ability to effectively teach the students. Teachers are instrumental in building the knowledge, capacities, and opportunities of the next generation. If teachers are out of the classroom for any reason, it limits their commitment to and their engagement with the school; therefore, voluntary teacher absence is a serious matter. The primary purpose of this study is to understand teachers' perceptions of voluntary teacher absences and the leadership practices that impact absenteeism. The research design is qualitative with a focus group design.;I conducted two focus group interviews with four Chicago Public Schools teacher volunteers. The participants answered open-ended questions about teacher absences and the leadership practices that impact these absences. The data was analyzed using coding. The emerging themes showed that (a) teachers are stressed but are not absent; (b) supportive leadership practices decrease teacher absence; (c) district teacher absence policies encourage teacher absences; and (d) there should be more curriculum teaching and less high-stakes testing. This study found that teachers are committed to their students and are not absent unless there are family emergencies and illness, caring for a loved one, exhaustion and stress. However, unsupportive leadership and high-stakes testing and preparation can prove to be very stressful to teachers who choose not to be absent from the classroom.