Second chance education encompasses a range of different initiatives aimed at making it easier for early school-leavers to return to training. European policies in the realm of social cohesion, training and employment are the source of major developments in this type of education (European Union Council 2008). To fulfil its objectives, second chance education cannot reproduce the school model which early school-leavers failed and must have a series of characteristics that helps them earn diplomas and training that aids them in their personal, professional and social development. Research on second chance education is scarce. And the answer to the question of what it should be like if it is to fulfil its objectives is still very partial (VVAA 1998, Riele 2000, Wyn et al. 2004, Barton 2005, among others). Including the views of the young people who participate in it, among others, is essential in the process of fashioning this answer. These views serve as the basis for the research project "School-leaving and returning to the education system in the Balearics: life stories of students in Lifelong Adult Education (LAE)", whose main objectives are: (a) to contribute to creating knowledge on the processes of early school-leaving and returning to the education system and (b) to help improve actions to accompany early school-leavers who wish to carry on studying. This research is part of an international research-action project in which to Quebec and several different European countries participate.

The methodology used included in-depth interviews with 30 young people ages 16 to 20 who had left the school without earning the Compulsory Secondary Education degree (CSE) and were attending in the modality of Secondary Education for Adults (SEA). The information was collected through a script containing nine wide-open questions divided into four sections: current situation; personal, academic and family biography; returning to the education system; and future perspectives. After the interviews had been conducted and transcribed, the content was analysed by category and later codified on a computer program. The reports were extracted by category and subcategory once this phase concluded and the final research paper is currently being drafted.

The results of this research will allow us to delve more deeply into the analysis of causes and processes related to early school-leaving and the reasons why young people return to and remain in the education system. This text focuses on the results related to the second aspect, more concretely: - Career paths taken after completing compulsory secondary education without the corresponding degree: academic and professional experiences; personal and social development. - An assessment of participation in Secondary Education for Adults (SEA). - Future perspectives.