Causes of school failure in secondary education. A study from different perspectives

Author(s):

Estefanía Martínez Valdivia(presenting / submitting)Diana Amber Montes

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

05. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

05 SES 01 B, School Dropout and Social Exclusion

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-18

13:15-14:45

Room:

ESI 1 - Aula 25

Chair:

Mark Hadfield

Contribution

The aim of this research work is to ascertain the reasons behind the high dropout and failure rates in Spain, from the diverse perspectives of the agents which are part of the school (teachers / advisers and tutors, retired teachers, counselors, dropouts and experienced professionals with dropouts). It will investigate how to avoid or reduce this high percentage, as well as propose measures to meet administrative and political level.

Throughout this paper it will be provided an introduction to the phenomena of failure and early school dropout and a study of the most important factors influencing them with the intention of determining the main causes of these phenomena and can thus be more accurate when proposing measures (didactic-pedagogical proposals). Of course, such reasoning is based on international data at European and national (Spain) levels.

Therefore the underline goals of this work are three:

1. Find out the causes that explain the high rate now existing of early dropouts experienced by the different agents involved in education.

2. To investigate the effect of various measures taken to decrease the dropout rate, highlighting the aspects that have proven to be more positive.

3. Suggest didactic-pedagogical proposals to guide the orientation and training of students to prevent dropouts.

These objectives address the following research questions where we base this study: Why and how does school failure and dropout occurs? ; How can you avoid it? And what proposals can be taken to improve?

Method

Since the intention of this work presented is to learn from the voice of the different agents involved in the phenomena of study (school failure and dropout), what measures, solutions, proposals, etc. can be given to such phenomena from the experience of agents in the school, therefore, a qualitative methodological approach has been chosen since it is best way to allow the inquiry into this knowledge and reach the desired understanding. A biographical narrative method has been chosen. It has been selected with the intention of finding an understanding of what happens in the school, taking into consideration the experiences and personal experiences of the different stakeholders. Therefore, the instruments used to carry out this research are interviews, case studies and journal. The model sample of this research is called intentional based on criteria, it will be selected from different schools both public and private, which will work with various stakeholders such as teachers, teacher-tutors, retired teachers, counselors, dropouts and experienced professionals.

Expected Outcomes

This research project is part of a dissertation so it is open to change, but the general approach in itself is well defined, the research can be modified according to the characteristics of the centers and agents with whom they will work and the situations we encounter. In this way it handles the possibility to perform a questionnaire to generalize results, and we can expand the sample and the number of the agents involved, perhaps because the experiences and knowledge of the directors of the centers may be very rewarding for our study.

References

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Author Information

Estefanía Martínez Valdivia (presenting / submitting)

University of Granada, Spain

Diana Amber Montes