The aim of the present paper is two-fold. First of all, the intention is to show how young people within vocational education in Denmark view the process of dropping-out of education. Accordingly, the paper illustrates how drop-out is seen by students as mainly and respectively 1) an act resulting from lack of individual initiative and presence and 2) as something created in educational institutions in various situations, for example when teachers spend more time and resources on the well-off, quick and clever students or when there are a lack of trainee places. Secondly, a more general viewpoint in the paper is that drop-out can be seen as a potential creative resource for educational institutions concerned with learning and change. While the view of drop-out as resulting from the lack of individual initiative seems to underline a dominant individualized discourse about drop-out at the colleges studied, the idea of drop-out as something created and as a creative potential point towards a more collective and systems-oriented approach to the understanding of and eventual prevention of drop-out among students. The empirical basis of the paper consists of 106 interviews with students in eight different vocational educational basis courses in Denmark. The study seeks to understand the rationale for dropping out of education when viewed from the perspective of students. Theoretically, the paper combines theories of creativity with insights from the literature on student drop-out in education more generally.

Brown, T.M., & Rodriguez, L.F. (2009). Empirical research study – School and the co-construction of dropout. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(2), 221-242. Felner, R., Seitsinger, A., Brand, S., Burns, A., & Bolton, N. (2007). Creating small learning communities: Lessons from the project on high-performing learning communities about "what works" in creating productive, developmentally enhancing, learning contexts. Educational Psychologist, 42(4), 209. Fine, M., & Rosenberg, P. (1983). Dropping out of high school: The ideology of school and work. Journal of Education, 16(3), 257-272. Heck, R.H., & Mahoe, R. (2006). Student transition to high school and persistence: Highlighting the influences of social division and school contingencies. American Journal of Education, 112( May), 418-446. Lee, V.E., & Burkam, D.T. (2003). Dropping out of high school: The role of school organization and structure. American Educational Research Journal, 40(2), 353-393. McNeal, R. B., Jr. (1997). Are students being pulled out of high school? the effect of adolescent employment on dropping out. Sociology of Education, 70(3), 206-220. Smyth, J., & Hattam, R. (2002). Early school leaving and the cultural geography of high schools. British Educational Research Journal, 28(3), 375-397. Willis, P. (1977). How Working Class Lads Get Working Class Jobs. Farnborough: Saxon House.