Schools and their contribution to mitigating disengagement and early school leaving

Resumo

This article offers a summary of recent theoretical and research contributions related to the issue of school disengagement and dropout, which are focused on the school and its way of operating. In its different sections:
-The narrow relation between the student disengagement from his education and the school dropout, and between these issues and the educational experience delivered by the school to the student is justified.
-Two approaches on the pedagogical and organizational aspects of the engaging schools are documented: One of them related to the school efficacy, the other one dealing with critical and socio-critical analysis.
-Different proposals of action aiming to alleviate disengagement and dropout situations are commented. These are suggested by the above mentioned approaches and they are related to the school relational climate, the curriculum and the teaching, some structural facets and the relation between the schools and the local and familiar environment.