Authors: Norimasa Itakura & Megumi Kato, Gifu University, Japan
Email: 1takura313@gmail.com
Published: August 2016
https://doi.org/10.22492/ijpbs.2.2.02
Citation: Itakura, I., & Kato, M. (2016). Characterizing Parents’ and School Staff’s Involvement with Student Attendance from the Perspective of School Staff in Japan. IAFOR Journal of Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.22492/ijpbs.2.2.02
Abstract
This study investigated the relations between parents and various school staff involvement, and student attendance across time from the viewpoint of school staff in Japan. In addition, student attendance characteristics were classified to investigate potential differences among students related to time and involvement of parents and staff. The research participants were Japanese elementary, junior, and senior high school staff (N = 206) who consented to participate in the survey. All participants were sampled from various areas of Japan and recruited through a web-based survey. Data were collected by the polling organization Internet Research Service MELLINKS (Tokyo, Japan), through their web panel (see www.mellinks.co.jp). The results indicated that during the early period of support, there was no positive correlation between class teachers’ involvement and students’ attendance. However, during the late period of support, it had a positive correlation. Surprisingly, the school nurses’ involvement was critical even in the early periods. Furthermore, in the late period, the results of ANOVAs assessing difference among the student attendance categories showed that maintaining and recovery types had higher scores of parents’ and class teachers’ involvement than non-maintaining and declining types. This study suggests that flexibility of collaboration among parents and various school staff across time is an important component to support student attendance.
Keywords
parents’ involvement, school staff involvement, student attendance