Desafío TEP – Positive Educational Trajectories. A Public-Private Alliance to Strengthen Public Education During the Pandemic

This case study describes the Desafío TEP project, which arose from a public-private alliance between the Arauco Educational Foundation, the Center for Advanced Research in Education (CIAE) from the University of Chile, and the Andalién Sur Local Public Education Service (SLEP). The goal of the project is to develop a model for the prevention of school exclusion (resulting from repetition and dropout) in public schools.Although the initiative was in consideration to be suspended due to the closure of schools across the country caused by COVID-19, instead the proposal was completely redesigned, recognizing that the pandemic would increase the problems of school exclusion. The innovations generated in this redesign are anticipated to lead to long-term sustainability and scalability in the region through cost reductions and the promotion of remote interactions between different establishments working in networks, such as the SLEP, the schools, and the teams from the CIAE and Arauco Educational Foundation. This network is further supported by the actors in the educational system of the territory.

Long-term Labour Market and Economic Consequences of School Exclusions in England: Evidence from Two Counterfactual Approaches

Background. Previous research suggests that school exclusion during childhood is a precursor to social exclusion in adulthood. Past literature on the consequences of school exclusion is, however, scarce and mainly focused on short term outcomes such as educational attainment, delinquency, and mental health in early adolescence. Moreover, this evidence is based primarily on descriptive and correlational analysis, whereas robust causal evidence is required to best inform policy.Aims. We aimed to estimate the mid-to-long-term impact of school exclusion on labour market and economic outcomes.Sample. The sample included 6632 young people who at the age of 25/26 in the year 2015 participated in the Next Steps survey of whom 86 were expelled from school and 711 were suspended between the ages of 13/14 and 16/17.Method. Using high quality existing longitudinal data, we utilised four approaches to evaluate the impact of school exclusion: logistic regression-adjustment models, propensity score matching, school fixed-effects analysis, and inverse propensity weighting. The latter two counterfactual approaches were used to estimate causal effects.Results. We found that school exclusion increased the risk of becoming NEET at the age of 19/20, and then remaining economically inactive at the age of 25/26, as well as experiencing higher unemployment risk and earning lower wages also at the age of 25/26.Conclusion. School exclusion has pervasive negative effects into adulthood. Policy interventions should focus on both prevention and mitigating its negative effects. Interventions aimed at re-integrating excluded individuals into education or vocational training could be key in reducing the risk of poor socio-economic outcomes and social exclusion.