The theme of this paper is school absence understood as a comprehensive term which encapsulates different kinds of student absence from primary and secondary school shaped by factors connected to students, parents, schools, peers and the community. The aim of the research presented in the thesis was to establish how teachers explain school absence and what they see as solutions to this problem. The analysis of the conducted interviews with teachers suggests that teachers consider personal characteristics of students as the most relevant reason for school absence since they are seen as consciously calculating school absence. Parents are also considered key in justifying student's absences ahead of knowledge tests, and legislative procedures are considered responsible for the parental right to justify a certain number of absences. This study also provides a perspective on ways to intervene in and reduce school absences. The study shows that teachers mostly use methods of reducing school absence when students are already absent, while only a few focus on prevention.