The study is underpinned by the substantial body of international research that concludes that teachers are the single most important in-school factor in improving student learning. Like many developing countries, however, Indonesia faces a more fundamental challenge: getting teachers to be present in school. For there to be quality teaching in the classroom, teachers must first and foremost be present. The study builds on earlier work on teacher absence in Indonesia conducted in 2003 and 2008. Aspects of the study design, including revisiting schools that participated in these earlier studies, enable analysis of change over time in the absence rate and the impact of selected policies and programs. A key finding was that schools required more assistance in managing teacher absences. There needs to be clearer policies on how teacher absences should be managed by schools in ways that minimize disruption and adverse effects on student learning. This study found that schools were facing serious challenges in deploying appropriate substitutes for absent teachers. Improvements to how teachers – permanent teachers as well as contract and honorary teachers, which have increased in proportion over the last ten years – are distributed could go some way in addressing this.