Page 188 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 188
ear ly school leaving: contempor ary european perspectives
associations with school achievement are well established. In oth-
er words, a significant share of the effect of student achievement on
leaving school can be separated from the effect of one’s socio-eco-
nomic background, meaning that strong competencies can help in
overcoming the effects of disadvantages on educational success.
Further, the findings of ESL studies based on PISA generally suggest
that student-level variables, such as gender, immigrant status, family
situation as well as SES, tend to be generally universal across coun-
tries and stable over time in predicting ESL. In contrast, only a few
studies find school-level effects, with these generally being related to
the socio-economic composition of the student body in the school.
That is not to say that school does not have an impact on ESL, but
only that this impact has not been systematically recognised in the
PISA-based studies.
Key words: ESL, detection, low achievement, PISA
Introduction
Early school leaving (ESL) is an important issue on the educational poli-
cy agenda both nationally and internationally. This paper aims to contex-
tualise ESL based on one of the landmark skills assessments, the OECD’s
PISA. PISA has become an important component of the strategic frame-
work for European cooperation in education and training (ET, 2020). It
represents a prominent information source for the Europe 2020 strategy
where it is widely used in fields such as literacy, mathematics, early leavers
from education and training, low achievers and information and commu-
nications technology (ICT) skills (European Commission, 2013). Based on
large nationally representative samples, the PISA study has been examin-
ing the performance of 15-year-olds who are still in education in the areas
of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy in over 60 countries every
3 years since the year 2000. The data also include information on students’
attitudes and values, school attendance as well as family backgrounds
which enables searching for explanations of the differences in their school-
ing outcomes.
The aim of this paper is to conduct a literature review on studies that
have addressed the issue of ESL by utilising the PISA data and results. Using
quality indicators on student achievement together with the indicators on
the background characteristics of students and schools that are available
188
associations with school achievement are well established. In oth-
er words, a significant share of the effect of student achievement on
leaving school can be separated from the effect of one’s socio-eco-
nomic background, meaning that strong competencies can help in
overcoming the effects of disadvantages on educational success.
Further, the findings of ESL studies based on PISA generally suggest
that student-level variables, such as gender, immigrant status, family
situation as well as SES, tend to be generally universal across coun-
tries and stable over time in predicting ESL. In contrast, only a few
studies find school-level effects, with these generally being related to
the socio-economic composition of the student body in the school.
That is not to say that school does not have an impact on ESL, but
only that this impact has not been systematically recognised in the
PISA-based studies.
Key words: ESL, detection, low achievement, PISA
Introduction
Early school leaving (ESL) is an important issue on the educational poli-
cy agenda both nationally and internationally. This paper aims to contex-
tualise ESL based on one of the landmark skills assessments, the OECD’s
PISA. PISA has become an important component of the strategic frame-
work for European cooperation in education and training (ET, 2020). It
represents a prominent information source for the Europe 2020 strategy
where it is widely used in fields such as literacy, mathematics, early leavers
from education and training, low achievers and information and commu-
nications technology (ICT) skills (European Commission, 2013). Based on
large nationally representative samples, the PISA study has been examin-
ing the performance of 15-year-olds who are still in education in the areas
of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy in over 60 countries every
3 years since the year 2000. The data also include information on students’
attitudes and values, school attendance as well as family backgrounds
which enables searching for explanations of the differences in their school-
ing outcomes.
The aim of this paper is to conduct a literature review on studies that
have addressed the issue of ESL by utilising the PISA data and results. Using
quality indicators on student achievement together with the indicators on
the background characteristics of students and schools that are available
188
