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Teachers’ Guidelines

Homepage > Teachers’ Guidelines > Understanding Early School Leaving

An overview of the current situation of early school leaving in Europe

Understanding Early School Leaving

This chapter gives an overview of the current situation of early school leaving in Europe and examines the role of the classroom peer context in the behavioural engagement of low-income students in schools. Specifically we examine associations between engagement within the context of teacher practices and student behavioural difficulties.
The overall goal is to better understand the classroom peer contexts that enable more teenagers to engage in the learning activities at school, with an eye toward informing classroom contextual interventions that promote academic outcomes.
The notion of Early School Leaving (ESL), currently named “Early Leaving from Education and Training” (ELET), has been introduced by the European Union to designate a long-term process of school disengagement involving young people aged between 18-24 who leave any type of education and training without reaching an upper secondary qualification (according to ISCED scale). Unlike the drop-out dilemma, which specifically implies a temporary study interruption, the Early School Leaving phenomenon coincides with the final outcome of the education withdrawal.
This means that ESL is a multi-faceted and complex issue caused by a cumulative process of disengagement. It is a result of personal, social, economic, education or family-related reasons (Reducing early school leaving: Key messages and policy support).
As demonstrated in several researches, a low level of education due to ESL basically leads to increased public and social expenditures, to less social cohesion and participation, a higher likelihood of unemployment, poorer health and more crime.
Conversely, it is shown that a successful education tends to positively influence people’s earning capacity due to more opportunities in the labour market and higher salaries. This will obviously mean a greater availability of human resources and a consequent growth in the economy and national productivity.
High rates of Early School Leaving (ESL) are thus today recognized as one of the most relevant issues in education due to their long term effects on societal development and economic growth (Dale, 2010) and the reduction of ESL to 10% by 2020 is at the core of the 2020 European Union education strategy.
It is well documented that early leaving from education and training leads to reduced employment opportunities and increased likelihood of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. (European Commission, Education and Training Monitor 2015, forthcoming). Seeking this goal ES declare a set documents related to reducing a number of early school leavers: Recommendation of the Council of the European Union on policies to reduce early school leaving (2011); Youth Guarantee Council Recommendation (2013), New skills agenda for Europe (2016) and et cetera.
Furthermore, ESL is a complex issue and cannot be solved by education policies alone. Efficient strategies to reduce early school leaving must address education, youth and social policies. They need to be tailored to local, regional and national conditions (Commission launches action plan to reduce early school leaving).

1. Analysis of Major Trends in School Leaving in Europe

2. Statistical Data and a Comparative Analysis

3. Policy and Early School Leaving

4. Difficulty in the Eyes of the Teachers

5. Difficulty in the Eyes of the Students

6. Conclusions

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.