What do young adults’ educational experiences tell us about Early School Leaving processes?

What leads young people to disengage and leave school early? This paper focuses on young adults’ educational trajectories, with the objective of identifying useful insights for improving school measures and strategies against early school leaving and school disengagement. Specifically, it draws upon an empirical study with young adults from the north of Portugal. Longitudinal bio-interviews took place with young men and women, aged 17 to 24, who were enrolled in secondary education at mainstream schools or in alternative learning contexts or who were early school leavers. A set of critical moments and circumstances were identified as turning points in the young adults’ descriptions of their school trajectories, revealing both obstacles and incentives to continue studying. Based on these narratives, the study identifies some risk and protective factors for early school leaving and makes suggestions about how to improve school-based measures to prevent school disengagement. Some key recommendations for schools include: increased support mechanisms during educational transitions; a firm stance on bullying and the creation of violence-free and secure learning environments; enhancing socio-emotional support and encouraging the emergence of relationships of care; and providing meaningful education by ensuring the school content is aligned with students’ motivations and needs.

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Una mirada al abandono escolar prematuro en Portugal: Realidades, contextos y prácticas

Educatio Siglo XXI ◽

10.6018/educatio.414651 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (2 Jul-Oct) ◽

pp. 109-130

Author(s):

Helena Araújo ◽

Eunice Macedo ◽

António Magalhães ◽

Cristina Rocha

Keyword(s):

Social Inclusion ◽

Knowledge Society ◽

School Principal ◽

Economic Policies ◽

Early School Leaving ◽

Educational Trajectories ◽

Early School ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

El Sistema ◽

Student Advocates

Teniendo in cuenta que el abandono prematuro de la escuela/ abandono prematuro de la educación y de la formación es un problema sumamente político, este articulo hace una mirada al abandono escolar prematuro en Portugal, enfocando sus realidades, contextos y prácticas, en una interacción entre el nivel nacional y europeo e sus orientaciones para la educación. Se hace una breve analice a los contornos del problema y a su evolución y se presenta a el sistema educativo para después se reflexionar acerca de la actual orientación educativa, dando evidencia a las perspectivas de inclusión. Finalmente se enfocan medidas intramuros para enfrentar el abandono escolar en una escuela secundaria superior en un área de intervención educativa prioritaria. Estas medidas son preventivas, y incluyen la preparación para los exámenes y el defensor del estudiante, a que se da prominencia en este artículo, haciendo el enfoque en las voces distintas del Diretor de la escuela, del profesorado y de las y los estudiantes. Se argumenta que la lucha contra ESL se encuentra en la tensión entre las políticas destinadas a hacer frente a las necesidades de la economía y de la sociedad del conocimiento y la tentativa de promover la inclusión social a través de la consecución de los itinerarios educativos, dando herramientas a las personas jóvenes para llevar adelante sus posibles opciones. Bearing in mind that early school leaving (ESL) / early leaving from education and training (ELET) is a political problem, this article looks at early school leaving in Portugal, focusing on its realities, contexts and practices and tapping into the interaction between the national and the European levels and their guidelines for education. The context of the problem and its evolution is briefly analyzed. Following the description of the education system, we also provide some reflections on current educational lines, providing evidence on how inclusion is implemented within such lines. Finally, intramural measures are proposed with a view to addressing early school leaving in an upper secondary school located in an educational area of priority intervention. The objective of the article is to analyze early school leaving by making the voices of different stakeholders heard—the school principal, teachers and students—following the implementation of a set of educational measures. These measures are preventive and include preparation for exams and the function of student advocates, two aspects which have a prominent role in this article. We argue that the struggle against ESL lies in the tension between economic policies and the knowledge society and the promotion of social inclusion which requires the definition of educational trajectories aimed at providing young people with the necessary tools for them to make adequate decisions for their future.

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“Turma Alfa”: a dilemática fronteira entre práticas educativas inclusivas e práticas educativas exclusivas

RASE Revista de la Asociación de Sociología de la Educación ◽

10.7203/rase.11.1.10603 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 21

Author(s):

Virgínio Martins de Sá ◽

Esmeraldina Veloso

Keyword(s):

Inclusive Education ◽

Local Community ◽

Early School Leaving ◽

Education Practice ◽

Self Evaluation ◽

The North ◽

Observation Units ◽

Early School ◽

Multiple Case ◽

National Programs

Abstract: This paper stems from an ongoing investigation on the theme "Educating places: practices, voices and pathways of inclusive education”. This project seeks to answer, among others, the following questions: i) which processes and factors, subjects, action rationales and (institutional, local, community) partnerships contribute to building local inclusive education practices, in the views of actors involved?; ii) which (social, institutional, biographical) processes and factors stop the negative spiral of school underachievement, school dropout and early school leaving and favour the youngsters’ remobilization to learn and build successful academic pathways?The study design consists of a multiple-case study of eleven observation units in four Portuguese counties, in the context of two national Programs targeting to overcome school underachievement and early school leaving. For this paper, we selected the data collected in one of the case studies - an Education Priority Zone (ZEP) in the north of Portugal. We analysed several documents and records (Educational project, self-evaluation report, ZEP report, among others). Complementary, an unstructured interview was carried out with the ZEP coordinator. Taking into account a specific inclusive education practice adopted in the ZEP (“Alpha Class”), we discuss its inclusive promised achievements, but considering, at the same time, the potential risk of exclusion involved.

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Tackling early school leaving and the governing of educational transitions in Italy

Comparative Education ◽

10.1080/03050068.2019.1619332 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 386-403

Author(s):

Emiliano Grimaldi ◽

Paolo Landri

Keyword(s):

Educational Transitions ◽

Early School Leaving ◽

Early School

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The politics of educational transitions: Evidence from Catalonia

European Educational Research Journal ◽

10.1177/1474904120976042 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 147490412097604

Author(s):

Aina Tarabini ◽

Judith Jacovkis

Keyword(s):

Secondary Education ◽

Vocational Education ◽

Education And Training ◽

Vocational Education And Training ◽

Educational Transitions ◽

Early School Leaving ◽

Upper Secondary Education ◽

Early School ◽

Upper Secondary ◽

And Training

Transitions to upper secondary education are of crucial importance to understanding educational inequalities. They are also vital in explaining the contemporary dynamics of Early School Leaving. Global hegemonic discourses around educational transitions and Early School Leaving shape student pathways in terms of rational and linear choices, assuming equal opportunities for lifelong learning. Simultaneously, the European Strategy attributes key roles to Vocational Education and Training and to guidance in order to smooth educational transitions, reduce Early School Leaving and meet the needs of the knowledge-based economy. The aim of the article is to problematise the linear relationship between Early School Leaving, Vocational Education and Training, and guidance policies representing the dominant contemporary rhetoric concerned with ensuring smooth transitions and opening up long-term educational pathways for young people. The article provides an in-depth analysis of the political construction of the transition from lower to upper secondary education in Catalonia, identifying how it is conceptualised at a discursive level by policy actors and also how it is implemented at the institutional level. The results aim to be regarded as a useful analytical resource to inform critical policy analyses of educational transitions and their implications in terms of social inequalities.

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Reversing the trajectory of school disengagement? Lessons from the analysis of Warsaw youth’s educational trajectories

European Educational Research Journal ◽

10.1177/1474904119868866 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (5) ◽

pp. 445-462 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hanna Tomaszewska-Pękała ◽

Paulina Marchlik ◽

Anna Wrona

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Students At Risk ◽

School Disengagement ◽

Educational Trajectories ◽

Early School ◽

Downward Spiral ◽

Youth At Risk ◽

Educational Biographies

The theoretical framework of the paper combines the notions of school disengagement and educational trajectories. Our current research has demonstrated that several trajectories of school disengagement can be distinguished: unanticipated crisis, parabola, downward spiral, boomerang, resilient route, shading out. The text focuses on two trajectory types – the parabola, when youngsters facing increasing school disengagement are provided with substantial support and their trajectory changes its direction, and the downward spiral, which despite the support leads to further school disengagement and school leaving. Analysing the educational biographies of students from secondary schools in Warsaw, we focus on their perceptions of the support provided by different formal and informal sources. Investigating the protective factors and successful interventions might thus be useful in fostering the educational success of youth at risk. An analysis of the trajectories might be treated as guidance as to how to offset the negative impact of social and educational inequalities and hence to reverse the negative direction in one’s educational trajectory. The text is based on qualitative analysis of data obtained within an international research project: individual semi-structured interviews with Polish students at risk of early school leaving and youngsters who left school early.

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