Page 195 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 195
contextualising ear ly school leaving with pisa r esults
motivation in students accounted for significant variability in the intention
to drop out of high school (i.e. low motivation predicted intention to drop
out). Moreover, the intention to drop out seemed to have been more direct-
ly affected by self-determined motivation than by school achievement and
perceived competence.
In Switzerland, Eicher, Staerkle and Clemence (2014) utilised the
TREE study data to investigate associations of attitudinal factors with ESL.
More specifically, they investigated longitudinally perceived stress and op-
timism as predictors of dropout intentions over a period of 4 years while
controlling for educational performance in PISA, SES and immigrant sta-
tus. The study found that both average levels of stress and optimism as well
as annually varying levels of stress and optimism affected dropout inten-
tions. In other words, when controlling for the average level of stress and
optimism at the personal level, more stress and less optimism than usual
led to higher dropout intentions. The authors concluded that dropout in-
tentions are not stable over the student’s time in education and may thus be
influenced by periods of stress experienced by students.
Studies utilising a low PISA achievement score
as a proxy for ESL
A third set of studies emerged from our literature review of research on
ESL within the PISA context. The overriding characteristic of this set of
studies is that, instead of employing explicit data on whether a subject is
an ESLer or whether they intend to leave school early, low achievement in
the PISA test was used as a proxy measurement for the risk of ESL. More
specifically, a student was defined at risk of ESL in these studies if they had
achieved a score below Level 2 in the PISA scale for reading (or another do-
main). Most of such studies found in our literature review were conducted
for cohorts of Spanish students participating in PISA. This is not surprising
since in Spain school failure has been one of the principal problems of the
education system in recent decades (Guio Jaimes & Choi de Mendizabal,
2014). By using several cycles of PISA data, two studies (Guio Jaimes &
Choi de Mendizabal, 2014; Guio Jaimes, Choi de Mendizabal, & Escardibul
Ferra, 2015) found that personal and most household characteristics with
a significant influence on the risk of school failure (i.e. PISA achievement)
proved to be particularly stable in this influence over time while most of the
school-level characteristics were found not to be stable. This again indicates
it is no easy task to reveal the effect of school-level variables on ESL.
195
motivation in students accounted for significant variability in the intention
to drop out of high school (i.e. low motivation predicted intention to drop
out). Moreover, the intention to drop out seemed to have been more direct-
ly affected by self-determined motivation than by school achievement and
perceived competence.
In Switzerland, Eicher, Staerkle and Clemence (2014) utilised the
TREE study data to investigate associations of attitudinal factors with ESL.
More specifically, they investigated longitudinally perceived stress and op-
timism as predictors of dropout intentions over a period of 4 years while
controlling for educational performance in PISA, SES and immigrant sta-
tus. The study found that both average levels of stress and optimism as well
as annually varying levels of stress and optimism affected dropout inten-
tions. In other words, when controlling for the average level of stress and
optimism at the personal level, more stress and less optimism than usual
led to higher dropout intentions. The authors concluded that dropout in-
tentions are not stable over the student’s time in education and may thus be
influenced by periods of stress experienced by students.
Studies utilising a low PISA achievement score
as a proxy for ESL
A third set of studies emerged from our literature review of research on
ESL within the PISA context. The overriding characteristic of this set of
studies is that, instead of employing explicit data on whether a subject is
an ESLer or whether they intend to leave school early, low achievement in
the PISA test was used as a proxy measurement for the risk of ESL. More
specifically, a student was defined at risk of ESL in these studies if they had
achieved a score below Level 2 in the PISA scale for reading (or another do-
main). Most of such studies found in our literature review were conducted
for cohorts of Spanish students participating in PISA. This is not surprising
since in Spain school failure has been one of the principal problems of the
education system in recent decades (Guio Jaimes & Choi de Mendizabal,
2014). By using several cycles of PISA data, two studies (Guio Jaimes &
Choi de Mendizabal, 2014; Guio Jaimes, Choi de Mendizabal, & Escardibul
Ferra, 2015) found that personal and most household characteristics with
a significant influence on the risk of school failure (i.e. PISA achievement)
proved to be particularly stable in this influence over time while most of the
school-level characteristics were found not to be stable. This again indicates
it is no easy task to reveal the effect of school-level variables on ESL.
195
