The issue of students dropping out before completing secondary education is a global concern with significant individual and societal consequences. Various terms, such as Early School Leaving (ESL), Early Leaving from Education and Training (ELET), and school dropout, reflect different policy perspectives on this phenomenon. Despite international…

This paper tackles what is arguably one of the most pressing and intractable educational issues confronting western democracies--the disengagement and disconnection from schooling of alarming numbers of young people. The paper looks at the policy response in Victoria, Australia, and through ethnographic interviews with a small number of young…

This paper is concerned with the gap in educational provision for vulnerable learners in Malawi who are at risk of falling behind and dropping out of school due to irregular attendance. It draws on a study in high HIV-prevalence areas that explores the patterns of inequality and disadvantage that disrupt learning and uses this knowledge to design…

This publication, the first in a series of three monographs on school dropout research, is designed to provide background information as a foundation for local programs planning throughout the Canadian provinces. Topics in this monograph include definitions of dropouts, characteristics of persons who drop out of school, factors that identify…

This literature review describes the major topics covered in the literature on school dropouts between 1988 and 1994, with special attention to the reasons why youth leave school. It analyzes recent literature on these topics, and links this literature to that on intervention programs meant to keep youth in school and prepare them for employment.…

This monograph (in both English and French) examines the impact of poverty on children, with particular reference to the situation of poor children in Canadian elementary and secondary schools. Section 1 briefly introduces the topics of education and poverty. The link between poverty and children's physical and mental health and educational…