Relevance
Absenteeism may be
described as the students' absence from school, which can either be authorised
or unauthorised. Definitions on the type of absences can be found in MEDE’s
policy to address absences in schools ‘Addressing Attendance in Schools Policy
- October 2014’. Absences for students enrolled in primary and secondary
education are included in this exercise. Students enrolled in pre-primary
education and special schools are excluded.
This topic is not covered by any
EU regulation, thus the local policy set in the Ministry for Education and
Employment (MEDE) document ‘Addressing Attendance in Schools Policy - October
2014’ is followed.
Methodological
description
All information
required for State administered educational institutions is obtained from
register data provided directly from the responsible Ministry. Questionnaires
sent to pre-primary, primary and secondary non-State educational institutions
are sent via email. All incoming questionnaires are processed through a
custom-made computer software.
Accuracy and
reliability of data
Information on the accuracy and
reliability of data can be viewed in a dedicated metadata report available on
the NSO’s metadata website.
Timeliness and
punctuality of data
At a national level, the Unit
publishes a news release on a yearly basis related to absenteeism in schools,
with reference to the previous academic year. Such releases are published on
the NSO’s website as scheduled in the Advance
Release Calendar available also on the NSO’s website with a three-month
advance notice.
Accessibility and
clarity of data
A metadata report is also produced
at a national level and disseminated on the NSO’s metadata website.
Coherence and
comparability/consistency of data
Absenteeism data is
available as from academic year 2012-2013 and is comparable at NUTS 1 level.
This type of data is unique and thus
cross-checking with other domains is not possible.
Metadata