Page 172 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 172
ear ly school leaving: contempor ary european perspectives
is problematic for following aspects: traditional style of academ-
ic teaching, lack of relevance of pathways and an excessively rig-
id curriculum, disconnection from labour market needs, lack of
permeability between pathways (academic, technical, vocational).
Together with the disruption in social relationships with adults,
changes occur in the secondary school context that are develop-
mentally less appropriate for early adolescents and may lead to dis-
engagement and ESL. Thus, the school needs to adapt to a student’s
increasing maturity and changing emotional, cognitive and social
needs as they move through the education system. Moreover, ac-
cess to high quality ECEC and divergent, relevant and high quali-
ty VET play the role of protective factors. The need for a coherent
and well-balanced education system at all educational levels (i.e. all
parts of the education system from preschool to tertiary education
fit together well and function synergistically) is also warranted. The
education system should be diverse, but not fragmented. Attention
to the system blockages and discontinuities across different polic-
es and sectors is needed.
Key words: education system, socio-economic segregation, grade re-
tention, early tracking, ECEC, VET, transitions
Introduction
As introduced in the two other articles on ESL factors (factors at the level
of the individual, the family and social background, school-level factors),
these can be viewed within Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of human
development. This theory posits that five environmental systems interact at
multiple levels with the individual: the microsystem (i.e. people and insti-
tutions in the immediate surroundings – family, peers, school), the meso-
system (i.e. relationships between the microsystems, e.g. home-school rela-
tionships), the exosystem (i.e. an indirect influence on the individual, e.g.
health, social, media, neighbours), the macrosystem (i.e. cultural influences
– attitudes, ideologies) and the chronosystem (i.e. events and changes over
time) (Figure 10). In the two abovementioned articles that are related, we
focused on the model’s inner circles (i.e. the individual and microsystem),
whereas in this article we expand the review of ESL risk and protective fac-
tors to the outer circle, i.e. the more distant environmental influences lo-
cated in the exosystem.
172
is problematic for following aspects: traditional style of academ-
ic teaching, lack of relevance of pathways and an excessively rig-
id curriculum, disconnection from labour market needs, lack of
permeability between pathways (academic, technical, vocational).
Together with the disruption in social relationships with adults,
changes occur in the secondary school context that are develop-
mentally less appropriate for early adolescents and may lead to dis-
engagement and ESL. Thus, the school needs to adapt to a student’s
increasing maturity and changing emotional, cognitive and social
needs as they move through the education system. Moreover, ac-
cess to high quality ECEC and divergent, relevant and high quali-
ty VET play the role of protective factors. The need for a coherent
and well-balanced education system at all educational levels (i.e. all
parts of the education system from preschool to tertiary education
fit together well and function synergistically) is also warranted. The
education system should be diverse, but not fragmented. Attention
to the system blockages and discontinuities across different polic-
es and sectors is needed.
Key words: education system, socio-economic segregation, grade re-
tention, early tracking, ECEC, VET, transitions
Introduction
As introduced in the two other articles on ESL factors (factors at the level
of the individual, the family and social background, school-level factors),
these can be viewed within Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of human
development. This theory posits that five environmental systems interact at
multiple levels with the individual: the microsystem (i.e. people and insti-
tutions in the immediate surroundings – family, peers, school), the meso-
system (i.e. relationships between the microsystems, e.g. home-school rela-
tionships), the exosystem (i.e. an indirect influence on the individual, e.g.
health, social, media, neighbours), the macrosystem (i.e. cultural influences
– attitudes, ideologies) and the chronosystem (i.e. events and changes over
time) (Figure 10). In the two abovementioned articles that are related, we
focused on the model’s inner circles (i.e. the individual and microsystem),
whereas in this article we expand the review of ESL risk and protective fac-
tors to the outer circle, i.e. the more distant environmental influences lo-
cated in the exosystem.
172
