Understanding why some students leave school early

The majority of school leavers are now concentrating on the start of the written Leaving Certificate exams in five weeks' time.

However, each year 9,000 pupils leave school without completing the Leaving Certificate examination.

There has never been a situation where 100pc of students complete the secondary cycle. Figures 30 years ago showed over 30pc of secondary pupils left after completing their Intermediate / Junior Certificate. Between 1980 and the mid 1990s, that dropped to 15pc leaving school without completing the Leaving Certificate cycle. The figures for the past 15 years have been relatively stable.

Research has indicated the Leaving Certificate represents the minimum threshold for the successful attainment of a range of adult outcomes, even including health status.

Even in the best of economic times, early school leavers are less likely to get a job, and even if they do, it will pay less well than the jobs available to those who continue in education and training. So teachers, guidance counsellors and parents will always advise students to stay on and complete the secondary cycle.

But maybe it is more important to ask why they want to leave school early. What is it about their experience that makes school an unattractive place to be?

A recently-published study, No Way Back? The Dynamics of Early School Leaving by Delma Byrne and Emer Smyth of the Economic and Social Research Institute, explores the processes shaping early school leaving in the Irish context.

Early school leaving has its roots in early experience of educational failure, often as far back as primary level. The study finds drop-out rates tend to be higher in schools with a concentration of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Working class young men are particularly likely to feature among early school leavers, and the authors say while there is nothing particularly surprising about this finding, the analysis indicates a good deal of the gender gap is accounted for by ability grouping and teacher-student interaction.

Thus, young men are more likely to drop out of school because they are more frequently allocated to lower stream classes, and they are more likely to become enmeshed in a negative cycle of 'acting up' and being 'given out to' by their teachers. The higher drop-out rate of males is largely related to their school experiences.

Ability grouping is the process whereby students are allocated to classes according to their academic capacity, and the study found it has a significant effect on school drop-out. Students who are assigned to lower stream classes experience a climate of low expectations and negative student-teacher interaction, and are more likely to leave school early.

Bullying, negative self image, and negative relations with teachers and other pupils, were all contributory factors in the experience of students leaving school early.

The authors of the study highlight issues for policy development with regard to early school leaving.

They suggest that a positive school climate, more active teaching methods, and flexible ability grouping would help to engage young people with learning and encourage them to complete second-level education.

Irish Independent