Development of Preventive Measures to Prevent School Absenteeism in Twente

This research studies the relationship between school policy regarding school-absenteeism of pre-vocational education schools and pupil's self-experiences regarding school and school-absenteeism. School-absenteeism is a big problem for pupils, as well as for the school and the environment. School-absenteeism is an indicator for early school leaving and is also related to risky behavior. Initially schools took measures by addressing school management and tackling disciplinary problems. Yet, often personal factors like physical/psychological/cognitive problems and negative self-experiences are important factors related to school-absenteeism that are left unaddressed. This research consists of two questionnaires. One questionnaire measures the school policy of 10 pre-vocational education schools. The other questionnaire measures self-experiences of 700 pupils of 3 selected pre-vocational education schools. Both questionnaires will be conducted in the region of Twente in the Netherlands. The results of this research are translated to preventive measures which the schools in the region can use to further improve their policies and practices to prevent school-absenteeism(Convenant, 2008; Van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart, 2010).