Perspectives on Impact of Teacher Absenteeism on Learner Performance

Perspectives on the impact of teacher absenteeism on learner performance and collaborative strategies used by the school management teams (SMT) in mitigating the effect thereof. Specific findings relating to the above include non-completion of syllabus, learner content-gap and poor academic performance by learners. It is recommended that School Management Teams should encourage teachers to design lesson plans at the beginning of the year that review basic grade-appropriate material so that lessons can be carried out by any substitute teacher, make these habitual absent teachers conduct extra classes to cover the relevant syllabi and lastly, it is recommended that the Department of Basic Education should also implement a much-needed biometric system to monitor teacher absenteeism in schools as part of ensuring accountability in the system. This system will help to monitor, identify trends of teacher absenteeism and to place the provincial department in a better position to address chronic absenteeism.