Session Information
05 SES 14 A, Understanding the Risks to Early Leaving. Exploring the Risk and Support Factors in Europe
Symposium
Contribution
Early Leaving (EL) is considered a serious social problem, as well as an important phenomenon on the public agenda and education policies of Romania. Even though early school leaving in the European Union has decreased in the last few years, as the European average was in 2017 at only 0.6 pps. compared to the target proposed for 2020, Romania has achieved little progress since 2011. In 2017, the threshold was still far from the one assumed, having stagnated at 18% (European Commission, 2018). As part of the Orienta4YEL Project, a multidimensional study was conducted and the data shows that Romania also experiences unpreparedness of school and community to embrace the whole spectrum of early school leaving. The study design employed individual interviews for members of school leadership team and administration (N=9), focus groups for general and vocational secondary schools and high schools teachers/trainers (N=63), and focus groups for young people representatives (N=91) as data collection tools. The empirical findings of the study revealed that in Romania there is a convergence of opinion on the most relevant factors that cause young people to leave school before completing compulsory education. Therefore, personal challenges are the one that contribute the most to the risk of early leaving, followed closely by family reasons and institutional factors. These results are backed up by international data and various national studies which confirm that there are multiple risk factors for early school leaving in the Romanian context (ANPCDEFP, 2019). Therefore, this third paper explores the challenges that are aimed at improvements in the early school leaving rate. Specifically, the analysis will shed light on the prevention strategies that have been developed and implemented, as well as on the deficit perspective on early school leaving within institutional and national policies. By addressing the existing supporting educational actions in areas where economic and social conditions are an obstacle for pupils, this session will furthermore particularly analyse the potential barriers which arise on the system’s ways of reducing the early leaving rate in order to better identify, prepare for, and respond to this phenomenon.
References
ANPCDEFP (2019). Studiu privind impactul proiectelor Erasmus+ de mobilitate și parteneriat strategic din domeniul educaţiei şcolare asupra reducerii părăsirii timpurii a şcolii. Available at: https://www.anpcdefp.ro/library/Rapoarte%20%C8%99i%20analize/Studiu_Impactul_proiectelor_Erasmus%2B_asupra_parasirii_timpurii_a_scolii.pdf European Commission (2010). Europe 2020 - A European strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, Communication from the Commission. Brussels. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/pdf/COMPLET%20EN%20BARROSO%20%20%20007%2 0-%20Europe%202020%20-%20EN%20version.pdf European Commission (2018). Education and Training Monitor. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/education/sites/education/files/document-library-docs/volume-1-2018-education-and-training-monitor-country-analysis.pdf Voicu, B. (coord.) (2010). Renunţarea timpurie la educaţie: posibile căi de prevenire. Bucureşti: Editura Vanemonde. Available at: http://www.unicef.ro/wp-content/uploads/Renuntarea-timpurie-laeducatie.pdf World Bank (2013). Strategy to Reduce Early School Leaving. Available at: http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/698181496304535110/Strategy-to-Reduce-Early-School-Leaving-mare.pdf
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