Relevance
Absenteeism may be described as
the students' absence from school, be this authorised or unauthorised. Students attending primary and secondary
schools are all in scope for this exercise.
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
Information on students attending
state schools is based on administrative records obtained from the MEDE. Data on the non-state sector are collected
directly from schools by means of a survey carried out among all schools. This exercise is carried on an annual basis
and the list of non-state schools to be surveyed is obtained directly from the
MEDE.
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 has been
produced using the same methodology since academic year 2010/2011 and is
comparable at NUTS 2 level.
This type of data is unique and thus
cross-checking with other domains is not possible.
Metadata