Risk factors of early school leaving: Andalusia middle school teachers’ perspective

Abstract

High school dropout represents an important social issue, which governments and social institutions should face up. European Union countries have committed to reducing the average share of early school leavers to less than 10% by 2020 (European Union Commission, 2009).
Spain has one of the highest dropouts’ rates of EU, being worse in some of Spain’s regions. This is the case of Andalusia community, which has around a 28% of early school leavers (INE, 2015) In the present work we describe some results of the research project “Students at risk for school dropout” which has been developed in Andalusia Community Spain. We used mixed methods, although in this work we only present quantitative results obtained through questionnaires, administered to 283 teachers (which is a representative sample). The value of this study lies in the fact that we have mapped the reality of secondary students in Andalusia (Spain), identifying
risk factors. This research has also provided us with a range of aspects that could help us tackle and prevent early dropout. We analyzed risk factors identified by Middle School Teachers in several areas: academic performance, degree of commitment, attitudes and interest in school, and classroom behavior. Our main goal has been to study in depth, which are the most important risk factors, to establish new lines of action to decrease these data and prevent new cases. We conclude that the main risk factors are: difficulties in critical subjects (mathematics, language,…), dislike studying, low engagement and inappropriate classroom behavior.