Session Information
02 SES 14 B, Pathways and Transitions III: Disengagement and Dropout
Paper Session
Contribution
In recent years attention has been focused on the study of the engagement in compulsory education. In this regard, the research of the students’ engagement allows us to relate it to the phenomena of absenteeism, school dropout and early school leaving. Although the school disaffection starts in Primary Education, it is at the level of Secondary Education when it becomes more visible and also when it begins to generate difficulties in the management of the classroom (González, 2015). In our research, we try to generate knowledge of what happens in this regard in Vocational Education and Training (VET).
It is interesting to note that engagement is sometimes reduced to measuring good school behaviour and fewer observable aspects are left out, such as the cognitive, affective or emotional dimensions. In this same line, relevant investigations in this field suggest that focusing on these three dimensions and studying them together allow for a global perspective that can provide relevant information (Tarabini, Curran, Montes and Parcerisa, 2015). In this way, we consider that a broad approach to engagement is necessary in order to obtain more elements of analysis of the students’ pathways in VET. Moreover, a clear understanding of these phenomena is necessary to provide proposals to address the curriculum and classroom practices and dynamics from which the disengagement results (González, 2010; McInerney, 2006). As a whole, we consider that tackling the students’ engagement and pathways in the educational system is a key objective for the educational research. In fact, one of our research foci is aimed at analysing the school dropout and early school leaving, a central phenomenon in the strategic framework Education and Training 2020.
The approach to the students’ engagement in the project that we present in this paper differentiates four dimensions: (i) emotional, which includes belonging / identification with the educational organization; (ii) behavioural, related to attendance, participation (in class and in extracurricular activities), behavioural incidents; (iii) cognitive, considering self-regulation, relevance of training for future aspirations, value of learning (future goals); and (iv) academic, including time dedicated to homework, homework, academic results (Appleton, Christenson, Kim & Reschly, 2006, Reschly & Christenson (2012).These dimensions are on the basis of the research methods developed.
From this framework, this paper has a double objective: first, to compare the level of emotional, cognitive, academic and behavioural engagement in Vocational Education and Training level 1 (FPB) and level 2 (GM) in the Valencian Region (Spain). As a second objective, we set out to make an initial approach to the educational pathways of students of both levels that began their studies in the academic year 2016-17 in the region of Valencia. In order to achieve these aims, we present the analysis of the data obtained in the first two years of work within the framework of the state project "Success and abandonment itineraries in Vocational Training of the educational system of level 1 and 2" (EDU2013-42854-R), with continuity in the regional project "Itineraries of success and abandonment in Vocational Training of level 1 and 2 of the educational system in the region of Valencia" (GV/2018/038).
Method
The research that we present in this paper follows a longitudinal methodology made specific in the follow-up through questionnaires, telephone interviews and discussion groups of the students that began VET level 1 or 2 studies in the 2016-17 academic course. The project is being carried out for three courses. In this way, considering that both VET level 1 and VET level 2 have two courses of duration, we intend to cover the entrance to the programs, the exit and the transition to the labour market or the continuity in another training. In the design of the project, we stratified the sample according to three criteria: professional family of the program, geographic distribution (within or outside the metropolitan area of Valencia) and ownership of the centre. In addition, in order to have a sample as representative as possible, we include both High Schools (Secondary Education Institutes, IES) and Public Integrated Professional Training Centres (CIPFP). With these stratification criteria, we used the enrolment data in both levels for specifying the centres in which to collect data for the first pass of the questionnaire. In the first year (2016-17), a total of 737 students of VET level 1 were contacted. They were distributed in 71 classes from 41 centres. In VET level 2, 1240 questionnaires were obtained in 85 classes and 43 centres. In the second year of the research (2017-18), a total of 434 students in VET level 1 and 498 in level 2 answered the questionnaires, which gives a first approximation of the abandonment itineraries.
Expected Outcomes
The first results obtained from the statistical analyses carried out allow us to begin to respond to the two objectives stated in this paper. Regarding the analysis of the students’ engagement, the analysis of variance shows differences in the three dimensions (emotional, cognitive and behavioural). More specifically, we found a higher level of school effort, greater relationships with teachers and peers, greater control and relevance of school work and a clearer professional identity in VET level 2, while in level 1 scores were higher in indiscipline and level of parental commitment. These differences allow us to approach the educational situation of the students and their pathways from their connection to the studies. In relation to the pathways in VET, the results presented will allow us to describe success and dropout pathways, which we present differentiating the professional families the students are involved in. Finally, it should also be explained that this is an ongoing project and, in this sense, we are still in the process of obtaining data through a qualitative approach that takes the form of group interviews and discussion groups to agents involved in the development of the VET. This approach will allow us to delve into interpretive keys to analyse the students’ engagement and its relationship with the itineraries VET level 1 and 2.
References
Appleton, J. J., Christenson, S. L., Kim, D., & Reschly, A. L. (2006). Measuring cognitive and psychological engagement: Validation of the Student Engagement Instrument. Journal of School Psychology, 44, 427-445. González, Mª T. (2010). El alumno ante la escuela y su propio aprendizaje: algunas líneas de investigación en torno al concepto de implicación. REICE: Revista Electrónica Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación, 8(4), 10-31. González, Mª T. & Cutanda, Mª T. (2015). La formación del profesorado y la implicación (engagement) de los alumnos en su aprendizaje. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación / Revista Ibero-americana de Educação vol. 69, núm. 2 (31/10/15), pp. 9-24, ISSN: 1022-6508 / ISSNe: 1681-5653 McInerney, P. (2006). ‘Blame the student, blame the school or blame the system?’. Educational policy and the dilemmas of student engagement and school retention. A Freirean perspective. Paper presented at the AARE (Australian Association for Research in Education) Annual Conference, Adelaide, Australia. Reschly, A. L., & Christenson, S. L. (2012). Jingle, Jangle, and Conceptual Haziness: Evolution and Future Directions of the Engagement Construct. In S. L. Christenson, A. L. Reschly, & C. Wylie (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Student Engagement (pp. 3-20). New York: Springer. Tarabini, A., Curran, M., Montes, A., & Parcerisa, L. (2015). La vinculación escolar como antídoto del Abandono Escolar Prematuro: Explorando el papel del Habitus Institucional. Profesorado: revista de currículum y formación del profesorado, 19(3), 196-212.
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