An opportunity to evaluate theories of change: the european strategy to prevent early school leaving

Résumé

Public policies analysis is paying a growing attention to the analysis of theories of change. This approach is proposed to the extent it inquires which concrete factors either favour or hinder the outcomes of programmes implemented in given settings. Often, these studies draw on the review of the specialised literature so as to estimate the coherence and the plausibility of a policy. Thus,
on the one hand, the article looks at the European Council and the European Commission proposal to prevent, intervene (on) and compensate (for) early school leaving. On the other hand, this  approach is compared to the proposal to offer diversified and pre-vocational pathways to students, as adopted by the central and most regional governments in Spain for the last decade. In
this vein, the review has collected and analysed the specialised literature on flexible school pathways, scholarships conditioned to enrolling in further education, and integral intervention on schools.