Nearly a fifth of students at VEC second-level schools miss school at least one day a fortnight, according to a national study.
The findings, carried out by Dr Gearoid O Donnchadha of Tralee Institute of Technology, will be presented to the annual conference of the Association of Principals of Vocational Schools and Community Colleges in Tullamore today. It used a sample of 916 responses.
The study found that the 6.5 per cent who were absent from school once or more a week, and the 11.4 per cent who were absent once or more a fortnight, shared a number of characteristics.
They were most likely to give out-of-school work, tiredness after partying and not liking school as reasons for absenteeism.
"They have lower-than-average academic expectations, find themselves low down in class and seem to think they can get away with absenteeism from their school and from their parents," Dr O Donnchadha concluded.