Page 135 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 135
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The Interplay of Factors Contributing to ESL
at the Levels of the Individual, the Family
and Social Background
Maša Vidmar and Tina Rutar Leban
Synopsis
Individual cognitive factors, especially low-achievement patterns,
increase the risk for ESL, but non-cognitive factors (e.g. personali-
ty traits, problem behaviour) also play a role. At the level of the fami-
ly and social background, the most prominent risk factor is low SES.
However, it is noted that ESLers comprise a heterogeneous group.
Summary
ESL is a process rather than a one-off event (European Commission,
2011) and the route to ESL frequently begins before the child goes
to school (NESSE, 2010). ESL risk and protective factors have to be
understood within a multiple-level framework: the individual, the
microsystem (e.g. family, peers, school), the mesosystem (relations
between the microsystems), the exosystem (e.g. health, social, edu-
cation system, media, neighbours), the macrosystem (e.g. the culture
in which individuals live) and the chronosystem (e.g. sociohistori-
cal circumstances) (see Bronfenbrenner, 1996). ESLers are generally
more likely to be exposed to multiple disadvantages at different lev-
els, which usually interact (European Commission, 2011). This arti-
cle aims to review the literature on several different individual fac-
tors and factors related to the family and social background that may
contribute or prevent ESL.
135
The Interplay of Factors Contributing to ESL
at the Levels of the Individual, the Family
and Social Background
Maša Vidmar and Tina Rutar Leban
Synopsis
Individual cognitive factors, especially low-achievement patterns,
increase the risk for ESL, but non-cognitive factors (e.g. personali-
ty traits, problem behaviour) also play a role. At the level of the fami-
ly and social background, the most prominent risk factor is low SES.
However, it is noted that ESLers comprise a heterogeneous group.
Summary
ESL is a process rather than a one-off event (European Commission,
2011) and the route to ESL frequently begins before the child goes
to school (NESSE, 2010). ESL risk and protective factors have to be
understood within a multiple-level framework: the individual, the
microsystem (e.g. family, peers, school), the mesosystem (relations
between the microsystems), the exosystem (e.g. health, social, edu-
cation system, media, neighbours), the macrosystem (e.g. the culture
in which individuals live) and the chronosystem (e.g. sociohistori-
cal circumstances) (see Bronfenbrenner, 1996). ESLers are generally
more likely to be exposed to multiple disadvantages at different lev-
els, which usually interact (European Commission, 2011). This arti-
cle aims to review the literature on several different individual fac-
tors and factors related to the family and social background that may
contribute or prevent ESL.
135
