Evidence Based Approaches towards Reducing Early School Leaving via Cross-Sectoral Cooperation

Author(s):

Manzanares Asuncion(presenting / submitting)José Sánchez-Santamaría(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

02 SES 13 B, Policy Developments In VET: Comparitive Analyses

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-21

11:00-12:30

Room:

FCT - Aula 22

Chair:

Michael Gessler

Contribution

In accordance with the principle of Lifelong Learning promoted by the Lisbon Strategy (EU, 2000), Education and Vocational Training Policies seek to guarantee social cohesion and the well-being of all through various actions. Some of these actions are intended to promote active citizenship and greater employability, while others are oriented towards improving equality and the quality of education and professional training.

In this sense, early school leaving (ESL) is one of the primary challenges of the European Union’s policy regarding education and professional training. The European labour market report: Employment in Europe 2010 (EC, 2011a), highlights the worsening of young people’s employment difficulties in the current context of the financial crisis. On the international level, moreover, there exists a special concern for those young people with severe difficulties, who are “Not in Education, Employment or Training”, due to the fact that they can find themselves permanently excluded from the labour market and from access to professional development (OECD, 2010).

So that, in June 2010 the European heads of state and government adopted the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Setting a strong priority for Member States they decided that reducing the share of early school leavers to less than 10% Europe-wide by 2020 is one of the headline targets underpinning this strategy. In June 2011 the Education Council adopted a Council Recommendation on policies to reduce early school leaving, proposing a framework for comprehensive, cross sectoral and evidence-based policies to address the problem of ESL (

EC, 2011b).

What is needed, then, are studies that provide evidence for the decision-making process at different levels of action: European, national, and local (Lyche, 2010). In this vein, this paper shows the main results of a study on the policies and programs dedicated to reducing ESL in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). The study was funded by the Spanish Labour and Immigration Ministry’s Administrative Unit for the European Social Fund and carried out between March and October of 2011.

The study identifies the set of programs and actions for the reduction of ESL that both the educational and the labour administrations conduct in this territory and pays special attention to the response given to this phenomenon at the local level based on factors such as financing, coordination, and evaluation (Manzanares Moya, 2011).

Method

The study is descriptive in nature and has diagnostic aims. Its methodological focus is mixed (Creswell & Plano, 2011): both quantitative and qualitative methods are used, including the triangulation of agents and sources of information, as well as methods involving techniques of information collection and analysis and researchers (Mertens, 2005). The unit of analysis consists of 27 regional municipalities, established as dropout zones by the regional government. With respect to the quantitative approach, the sample consists of 98 regional authorities and local experts in ESL. Their data was collected through an on-line questionnaire, which was validated by experts and consisted of 8 dimensions, 63 questions, and 381 variables. The analyses were of two types: descriptive and comparative. In the case of the qualitative approach, 4 discussion groups were held in which 60 people participated. A documental analysis was performed, and 4 interviews with political authorities were carried out. The analysis of discourse has been based on the reconstruction of the perspectives of the participants and on the modelling of their conceptions of ESL.

Expected Outcomes

The study offers a snapshot of the reality of ESL in Castilla-La Mancha at a particular time and within the framework of a concrete educational and employment policy in which the actions of different agents take on meaning. A distinguishing feature of the study is that the analysis of programs and actions, as well as the networks that carry out the struggle against ESL, cannot be understood as something separate from the actions by the Employment and Education administrations. Indeed, one of the factors that characterize the reduction of ESL is that this reduction has been taken on as a priority and included in the Plan for ESL Reduction and for the Return to the Educational and Professional Training System, 2009-2012 (JCCM, 2009). The proactive action of the Administration is a basic element in the articulation of an environment in which the stakeholders, each from their own position and work areas, create practices to reduce ESL. Another feature that stands out is the attention given to ways of understanding ESL and professional training and also to models of vertical and horizontal coordination that are established between the different agents and institutions (educational centres, employment offices, municipalities, social entities) that intervene on the local level.

References

Creswell, J.W. & Plano, V.L. (2011). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. EC (2011a). Employment in Europe report 2010. Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. Brussels. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=593 EC (2011b) Tackling early school leaving. A key contribution to the Europe 2020 Agenda. Communication [COM(2011)18]. Brussels. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/education/school-education/doc2268_en.htm EU (2000). The Treaty of Lisbon. Brussels. Retrieved from: http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/full_text/index_en.htm JCCM (2009). Plan para la reducción del abandono escolar y la reincorporación al sistema de educación y de formación. Toledo. Retrieved from: http://www.educa.jccm.es/educa-jccm/cm/educa_jccm/images?locale=es_ES&textOnly=false&idMmedia=115002 Lyche, C. (2010). Taking on the completion challenge: a literature review on policies to prevent dropout and early school leaving. Education Working Papers, No. 53. Paris: OECD Publishing. Manzanares Moya (Dir.) (2011). Estudio sobre la prevención y lucha contra el abandono temprano de la educación y la formación en Castilla-La Mancha. Final Report. Madrid: Unidad Administradora del Fondo Social Europeo (UAFSE) del Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración. Mertens, D.M. (2005). Research and evaluation in Educational and Psychology (2 Edition). Thousand-Oaks, CA: SAGE. OCDE (2010). Off to a Good Start? Jobs for Youth. Spain. Paris: OECD Publication on Labour Markets.

Author Information

Manzanares Asuncion (presenting / submitting)

University of Castilla La Mancha

Cuenca

José Sánchez-Santamaría (presenting)

University of Castilla-La Mancha

Pedagogy