School attendance problems and absenteeism as early warning signals: review and implications for health-based protocols and school-based practices

Frontiers in Education

Education

Carolina Gonzálvez¹  Michael Fensken²  Christopher A. Kearney²  Randolph Dupont² 

[1] Department of Developmental Psychology and Teaching, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Alicante, Spain;Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, United States;

关键词: school attendance;    school attendance problems;    school absenteeism;    complex systems theory;    early warning signals;    functional impairment;   

DOI  :  10.3389/feduc.2023.1253595

 received in 2023-07-05, accepted in 2023-08-14,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

School attendance has been historically linked to healthy states of functioning, whereas school attendance problems/absenteeism have been historically linked to unhealthy states of functioning. Indeed, school attendance and its problems are deeply embedded within multiple domains of functioning at both analytic and systemic levels. This article utilizes complex systems theory and the concept of early warning signals to illustrate how changes in school attendance could indicate instability and perhaps sudden transitions to unhealthy states of functioning for students, families, schools, and communities. The article reviews how school attendance problems/absenteeism intersect with functioning at analytic (academic, social–emotional, mental health, physical health, family) and systemic (school and community) levels. The article also includes recommendations for how viewing changes in school attendance as early warning signals could improve health-based protocols (enhancing access to care; integrating systems of care) and school-based practices (developing multi-tiered systems of support models and community asset maps; modifying educational and policy perspectives). A primary theme involves more streamlined efforts to identify movement from healthy to unhealthy states among individuals to assign proactive and personalized treatment avenues (health-based protocols) and among systems to enact needed intervention supports and reforms (school-based practices).

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Kearney, Dupont, Fensken and Gonzálvez.