TITLE OF THE PUBLICATION
Students at Risk of Dropping Out. Analysis of Contextual Factors
SURNAME AND NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
González Losada, D. (dir.), Cabrera Benítez, M.C., García Rodríguez, M.P., Muñoz Pichardo, J.M., Pozo Muñoz, C., Ruíz Muñoz, F., Triviño García, M.A.
PUBLISHER
Andalusian Public Foundation Andalusian Studies Centre, Ministry of the Presidency, Government of Andalusia.
PLACE AND DATE OF PUBLICATION
Seville,2013
TYPE OF PUBLICATION
Research
LANGUAGE OF THE DOCUMENT
Spanish
LANGUAGE OF THE REVIEW
English
THEMATIC AREA
Identification of students’ at risk
DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
The book presents a summary of the main results obtained in an investigation whose purpose was to analyze the contextual factors associated with early school leavings in Andalusia.
The problem is presented and several data about its magnitude are given in the first two chapters. Specifically, the first chapter presents and briefly explains, based in scientific literature, the possible causes and consequences of school dropouts. The second chapter gives statistical data about the prevalence of the aforementioned phenomenon in Europe and Spain, focusing, mainly, in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia.
The third chapter details the investigation itself. Said investigation took place in 16 schools. Both students and teachers participated in it. The information was collected with questionnaires. Moreover, along with said information, the intervention plans elaborated by these schools were analyzed, as well as the good practices for this field developed in all the Andalusian territory. The chapter details the main results obtained from all this information, summarizing the perception of the phenomenon by both the students and the teachers. Furthermore, from this information, the authors offer a "profile" of the students prone to dropping out.
The fourth and last chapter exposes the main conclusions extracted by the authors from the investigation. Specifically, it marks the relevance of: developing competencies in instrumental areas, attempting to stimulate the interest of the students towards the modules and to their compromise with study, attempting to show the usefulness of studying, reinforcing self-esteem and self-image, reinforcing the measures to control to achieve early detection, and coordinated work with their families. Finally, it includes a section for bibliographical references.
COMMENTS ON THIS PUBLICATION
The selected document supposes an empirical approximation to the subject matter: school absenteeism, focusing, mainly, in the analysis of the factors that form its base. Knowing these factors is essential because the approach to them will allow the prevention of the problem.
The presented investigation collects information about personal, school, social and family aspects, relationships between peers, leisure, other behaviors and early school leavings from the point of view of both the students and the teachers, which means an important richness, as this allows us to know the diverse ways that the people involved perceive the phenomenon.
Among the most frequent causes of early school leaving mentioned by the students we find the absence of competence, lack of motivation, perturbation of their mood, lack of interest, external causes to them, and, above all, bad performance. Failing is also pointed as the trigger of early school leaving.
Regarding the "profile" of the students at risk that is drawn from the results we find that these are students that suffer difficulties in reading comprehension, writing and Mathematics; with negative attitudes towards the school (nervous behavior, being late, etc.); they consider that studying is not worth the time; they perceive that their teachers think that their class is a bad class; they tend to have failed subjects from the previous years; they often consume tobacco and alcohol; and have problems with Justice.
Regarding their parents, it looks like a low level of education of the mother, mainly, could be a risk factor.
To sum up, the present material is of great utility for the School Safety Net Project, as it identifies useful markers for early detection of factors that would facilitate or increase the probability of early school leaving, regarding both the perspective of students and teachers.
Name of Compiler
Rosario del Rey
Name of Institution
University of Seville
Role in the institution
Research
