Submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Didactics at the University of Zululand, 1997. / The aims of this study were : • to investigate the effects of teacher absenteeism on secondary school pupils in KwaZulu Natal. • to suggest in the light of the findings obtained didactically justifiable guidelines for reducing the absenteeism rate among secondary school teachers. To address these problems information was collected from school principals through interviews and questionnaires. Analytical methods were also used to collect information regarding the effects of teacher absenteeism on secondary school pupils. In order to curb the problem of disjunction caused by an overemphasis on empirical research, this study also concentrated on a literature review in which recent sources on classroom management were used to identify criteria for effective classroom management, with specific reference to disruptive behaviour caused by the absence of teachers in the classroom. The study identified the following didactic criteria: democracy, conflict resolution, effective learning environment, motivation and order. These theoretical findings were blended with the empirical findings to analyse the effects of teacher absenteeism on the quality of teaching-learning actions in the schools included in the sample. The findings revealed that teacher absenteeism had the following major effects: • ignorance of pupils' names and achievements • demotivation among pupils • fighting and other forms of violence such as intimidation, defiance and vandalism • truancy • incomplete work programmes and poor performance • drunkenness and other forms of substance abuse by pupils • failure to do homework and assignments an increase in the drop-out rate • cheating in the examination The recommendations flowing from the research included, inter alia, that the Department of Education should establish a clear code of conduct regarding teacher absenteeism and a definite procedure to ensure that principals as well as teachers honour this code of conduct. Measures should be introduced to (a) combat the problem of teachers who fake sickness to absent themselves from duty and (b) compel principals to be more strict in keeping attendance registers, not only for pupils, but also for teachers. Since three of the most common causes of teacher absenteeism appear to be the attendance of funerals, part-time studies and long distances teachers travel between homes and schools, the dissertation contains several recommendations to alleviate problems in these areas.