Publish at March 18 2026 Updated March 18 2026
Presenteeism has many definitions, but the most general one encompasses students or workers who physically show up at their place of work but act according to unbalanced goals. Some do only the bare minimum, and settle for a "passing grade" even if it doesn't benefit them; some work overtime until they're sick, to gain certain advantages; some are sick and show up without regard for their production or their companions, often to avoid sanctions or out of solidarity; finally, some show up for want of anything better, without committing themselves.
The conditions that give rise to this phenomenon are well known: loss of meaning, lack of control over one's activity or organization, lack of recognition or belonging, lack of communication, stress, social pressure, continuous overload with no improvement in sight, too much or too little predictability, and a few other conditions that share points in common with the previous ones.
In education, no class and no subject escapes presenteeism. Out of 30 students, there will always be some slackers and counter-productive zealots. What can a teacher do to ensure that everyone is optimally involved, and that his or her teaching is more effective than just memorization or "right answers"?
The classic educational response to motivating effort is to motivate students. Just about everything has been tried: from subtle coercion(nudge) to gamification, from varying stimuli to active classes, via participative and inverted formulas and many others. There's no shortage of pedagogical proposals, and with artificial intelligence, the possibilities for adapting individualized teaching methods are only increasing. But it takes more than that to get students personally involved.
It's a positive utopia to interest all students in all subjects, but in reality, schools succeed in getting a substantial proportion of students involved, despite the constraints of compulsory schooling. Objective" motivational methods, those that play on psychic or social mechanisms, are effective insofar as they are situated, chosen and dosed according to individuals and contexts. For these reasons, automated systems, even those based on artificial intelligence, need teachers to supervise them and adapt their proposals. Certainly, these systems can enrich the pedagogical experience and improve teaching, but not on their own.
The will to get involved can be generated at many levels, whether material, social, intellectual or emotional, each with its own advantages and effects over the longer or shorter term. Marlène Douibi, Josh Kaufman, Daniel Pink and many other pedagogues clearly demonstrate the frameworks and uses of this approach. Student motivation cannot be decreed, and the reasons for motivation are specific to each individual and context-sensitive.
One of the points in common between the conditions of involvement and those of motivation is that of the control granted. Not only is granted control associated with respect for the individual, his sense of responsibility and his intelligence, but the possibilities of self-control enable the individual to increase his learning skills and thus his sense of competence as a student.
As a result, the learner's interest in most subjects is no longer held back by internal factors such as feelings of incompetence, or external ones such as the teacher's mood. The need for constraint disappears where control is allowed to assume the measure of what the individual can and wants to control. In short, the need for pressure appears in opposition to resistance. Anything that diminishes resistance removes the need for pressure and forcing against one's will.
Some particularly directive teaching methods leave very little control to the individual; yet they work and are appreciated in certain contexts. Isn't that curious?
These methods are commonly used with beginners, who are happy to hand over control, in principle benevolent, to a proven teacher or system. The risk is low and the expected benefits are known, probable and sought-after, so there's no need to oppose or resist. But as skills increase, the capacity for self-control develops and teaching methods are bound to evolve; if they don't, discipline problems appear and the whole system becomes rigid and ultimately ineffective, but initially it may be appropriate to be directive.
Let's tackle the opposite, with permissive teaching methods and learners unable to assume control of their attention or behavior. In this context, control is not assumed by the learner, who is unable to do so, nor by the method, which is not designed to make up for it. The motivation and involvement of learners in a system that doesn't work for them, over which paradoxically they have no control, reveals that it's not so much control that is associated with involvement as both the willingness and ability to assume it.
The choice of teaching methods can thus be based on observable elements in the behavior of learners in relation to their abilities and degree of autonomy. Would we allow a student to leave a training course on the pretext that he or she fully assumes the consequences? Would we let a student specialize beyond a certain level to the detriment of other disciplines on the pretext that he thinks he's found his way? Only the context will determine the best solution, which no machine can claim to arbitrate satisfactorily, which makes the presence of very human teachers all the more relevant.
Why force yourself? Because we want to, because we have to and because we understand it, or because we're forced to. In education, the effects on learners' degree of involvement may not be obvious at the outset, but become apparent as their skills develop. Pedagogical choices take this into account.
References
The 4 profiles of presenteeism - Caroline Biron, Faculté des sciences de l'administration - Université Laval
https://cgsst.com/outils-pratiques/profils-presenteisme/
What is presenteeism? - Agendirix
https://www.agendrix.com/fr/glossaire-rh/presenteisme
How do absenteeism and presenteeism affect productivity? - Ranstad - Management - HEC Montréal
https://www.randstad.ca/fr/employeurs/tendances-employeur/gestion-des-talents/comment-absenteisme-presenteisme-affectent-productivite/
When presenteeism breeds absenteeism - Emmanuelle Gril
https://www.revuegestion.ca/quand-le-presenteisme-fait-le-lit-de-labsenteisme
A few principles and tips to boost student motivation - Martin LaSalle - Université de Montréal
https://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/article/2023/08/31/quelques-principes-et-astuces-pour-favoriser-la-motivation-des-etudiants
Engaging your students - Denys Lamontagne - Thot Cursus
https://cursus.edu/fr/10489/susciter-lengagement-de-ses-eleves
Is discipline more important than motivation? - Regis Vansnick - Thot Cursus
https://cursus.edu/fr/31785/la-discipline-est-elle-plus-importante-que-la-motivation
Does motivating behavior in education work? - Alexandre Roberge
https://cursus.edu/fr/23086/inciter-des-comportements-en-education-ca-fonctionne
Effects of incentives in education - Denys Lamontagne - Thot Cursus
https://cursus.edu/fr/11433/effets-des-primes-en-education
Motivation: we've got it all wrong! - Frédéric Duriez - Thot Cursus
https://cursus.edu/fr/11927/motivation-on-a-tout-faux
At the root of the teaching principle: self-regulation - Denys Lamontagne - Thot Cursus
https://cursus.edu/fr/12330/a-la-base-du-principe-denseignement-sauto-reguler
Les pratiques pédagogiques - Essai de classement - Denis Cristol - Thot Cursus
https://cursus.edu/fr/23111/les-pratiques-pedagogiques-essai-de-classement
In search of universal pedagogy - Denys Lamontagne - Thot Cursus
https://cursus.edu/fr/30547/a-la-recherche-de-la-pedagogie-universelle
100 activités de pédagogie active - Fiches complètes - Thot Cursus
https://cursus.edu/fr/22407/100-activites-de-pedagogie-active-fiches-completes-gratuit
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