Determinants of university students’ attendance

Abstract

Background: Attendance of university students at their timetabled teaching sessions is usually associated with higher levels of educational attainment. Attendance is usually considered to reflect students’ level of engagement with their course and to be critical to student success; despite the potential for technological alternatives, lectures and other face-to-face sessions still tend to be the primary method of teaching at university. Purpose: Here we review studies which have investigated these determinants of attendance in order to gain a better understanding of whether–and how–Higher Education Institutions are able to improve attendance rates. Sources of evidence: Electronic databases (e.g. ERIC, Web of Science) were used to identify articles exploring attendance in Higher Education settings. Main argument: Some of the most debated determinants of attendance are reviewed: teaching issues (e.g. quality, style and format); effects of university expectations and policy (e.g. mandating attendance, awarding grades for attendance); scheduling issues; provision of materials online; and the effects of individual factors arguably outside of the Higher Education Institution’s control (e.g. finance, student employment, student demographics and psychological factors). Conclusions: It is suggested that, although some individual factors influence student attendance and are arguably out of the control of HEIs, it is possible for them to facilitate attendance through adjustments to aspects of degree delivery such as attendance policies and monitoring, timetabling and style of teaching. Implications for policies on the recording of lectures, curriculum design and student term-time working are also discussed. Future research on student attendance should include longer and larger studies which simultaneously consider a range of influences; examining both inter- and intra-individual variability and different types of teaching sessions.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2019.1660587
Divisions: College of Health & Life Sciences > Clinical and Systems Neuroscience
College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Optometry > Vision, Hearing and Language
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > Centre for Critical Inquiry into Society and Culture (CCISC)
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Operations & Information Management
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities
College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Psychology
Aston University (General)
Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Educational Research on 8 Sept 2019, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00131881.2019.1660587
Uncontrolled Keywords: Attendance,engagement,higher education,review,students,university,Education
Publication ISSN: 1469-5847
Last Modified: 25 Mar 2024 08:34
Date Deposited: 24 Sep 2019 15:18
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://www.tan ... 81.2019.1660587 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Review article
Published Date: 2019-10-02
Published Online Date: 2019-09-08
Accepted Date: 2019-08-16
Authors: Moores, Elisabeth (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-3997-0832)
Birdi, Gurkiran
Higson, Helen Elisabeth (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-3433-2823)

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