Page 139 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 139
the interplay of factors contributing to esl ...
monographs as well as reports by or for the European Commission and the
OECD are considered.
Factors related to the individual
This group of ESL factors has been very extensively studied. A considerable
body of research also deals with factors not specifically related to ESL, but
to academic achievement (mostly not covered in this article due to its fo-
cus on ESL, albeit the precursors of low academic achievement often over-
lap with those of ESL; simultaneously, low achievement is itself a strong risk
factor for ESL). Individual-level factors can be classified in three groups:
structural (i.e. demographic, e.g. gender, minority/migrant background),
cognitive (e.g. academic achievement, intelligence) and non-cognitive (e.g.
personality traits, social competence, emotional competence/intelligence,
problem behaviour, motivation, engagement, self-concept, anxiety).
Structural factors: gender
With regard to gender, a consistent pattern is found – young males are at
greater risk for ESL than their female counterparts. According to Eurostat,
the ESL rate in 2016 was 3.0 percentage points higher for young men (12.2%)
than for young women (9.2%) in the EU-28 (Eurostat, n.d. a). Thus, the pro-
portion of early leavers among young men is about 30% higher than among
young women, a ratio that has been stable over the last decade (ibid.). In al-
most all EU countries, the rates were higher for males than females, in some
countries even by up to 5%. Similar findings were reported in internation-
al and national research (e.g. Audas & Willms, 2001; Brock, 2011; Houses of
the Oireachtas, 2010; Marks & McMillian, 2001; NESSE, 2010; Traag & van
der Velden, 2008). Several tentative explanations are provided for this: boys
have lower achievement in reading than girls; boys have more difficulties
adapting to the school environment than girls; gender is more likely to play
a role for boys from a poor neighbourhood, while the gender difference for
students from a better situated neighbourhood seems to be non-significant
(see European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014 for details).
Thus, the relationship between ESL and gender seems to be less straight-
forward than the relationship with social economic status (SES), indicating
that gender alone is not a determining factor.
139
monographs as well as reports by or for the European Commission and the
OECD are considered.
Factors related to the individual
This group of ESL factors has been very extensively studied. A considerable
body of research also deals with factors not specifically related to ESL, but
to academic achievement (mostly not covered in this article due to its fo-
cus on ESL, albeit the precursors of low academic achievement often over-
lap with those of ESL; simultaneously, low achievement is itself a strong risk
factor for ESL). Individual-level factors can be classified in three groups:
structural (i.e. demographic, e.g. gender, minority/migrant background),
cognitive (e.g. academic achievement, intelligence) and non-cognitive (e.g.
personality traits, social competence, emotional competence/intelligence,
problem behaviour, motivation, engagement, self-concept, anxiety).
Structural factors: gender
With regard to gender, a consistent pattern is found – young males are at
greater risk for ESL than their female counterparts. According to Eurostat,
the ESL rate in 2016 was 3.0 percentage points higher for young men (12.2%)
than for young women (9.2%) in the EU-28 (Eurostat, n.d. a). Thus, the pro-
portion of early leavers among young men is about 30% higher than among
young women, a ratio that has been stable over the last decade (ibid.). In al-
most all EU countries, the rates were higher for males than females, in some
countries even by up to 5%. Similar findings were reported in internation-
al and national research (e.g. Audas & Willms, 2001; Brock, 2011; Houses of
the Oireachtas, 2010; Marks & McMillian, 2001; NESSE, 2010; Traag & van
der Velden, 2008). Several tentative explanations are provided for this: boys
have lower achievement in reading than girls; boys have more difficulties
adapting to the school environment than girls; gender is more likely to play
a role for boys from a poor neighbourhood, while the gender difference for
students from a better situated neighbourhood seems to be non-significant
(see European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014 for details).
Thus, the relationship between ESL and gender seems to be less straight-
forward than the relationship with social economic status (SES), indicating
that gender alone is not a determining factor.
139
