Page 196 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 196
ear ly school leaving: contempor ary european perspectives
In the study by Guio Jaimes, Choi de Mendizabal and Escardibul Ferra
(2015) an interesting perspective was introduced, namely that the dynam-
ics of the labour market could impact academic performance and students’
decisions to remain at school. The study established that the youth unem-
ployment rate was positively related with the risk of school failure and ear-
ly dropout from school. The authors concluded that while the youth un-
employment rate (which is highly correlated with the adult unemployment
rate) could have a two-way effect on ESL, the first being forcing students to
abandon the school system to enter the labour market to help support their
families and the second discouraging them to do so due to the lack of la-
bour opportunities for them, the first effect appeared to be stronger.
Two studies by Boada, Herrera, Mas, Minarro, Olivella and Riudor
(2011) and by García-Pérez, Hidalgo-Hidalgo and Robles-Zurita (2014) used
PISA 2006 and PISA 2009 data, respectively, to analyse characteristics of
Spanish students at risk of ESL based on low PISA achievement and inves-
tigated the associations between this risk and grade repetition. The first
study reported that skills in reading and mathematics significantly affect-
ed the likelihood of repetition. The second study stated that grade reten-
tion has a negative impact on students’ achievement. The authors conclud-
ed that repetition may not be the right policy to help weak students and
should be combined with other practices to help in closing learning gaps,
e.g. remedial education or ECEC interventions.
NESSE (2010) commissioned an independent expert report on ESL in
Europe in which the causes, consequences and possible remedies for ESL
were examined. To a small extent the report used PISA analyses, conducted
by Willms (2006), on whose basis the report concluded there is an impor-
tant school composition effect on ESL. School composition effect refers to
the ways the characteristics of the student body as a whole, especially its so-
cial make-up, affect school processes and influence the achievement of stu-
dents, even after taking individual students’ SES into account. The report
elaborates that a young person – with the same mix of dis/advantages and
the same history of school achievement – will leave one school early but
would not leave another school early. Within the context of OECD work, a
literature review by Lyche (2010) on international research in the ESL field
in OECD countries incorporated the PISA results by investigating factors
associated with low achievement. It also concluded that PISA shows a clear
advantage when attending schools where students come from a more ad-
vantaged socio-economic background. These two studies seem to be in
196
In the study by Guio Jaimes, Choi de Mendizabal and Escardibul Ferra
(2015) an interesting perspective was introduced, namely that the dynam-
ics of the labour market could impact academic performance and students’
decisions to remain at school. The study established that the youth unem-
ployment rate was positively related with the risk of school failure and ear-
ly dropout from school. The authors concluded that while the youth un-
employment rate (which is highly correlated with the adult unemployment
rate) could have a two-way effect on ESL, the first being forcing students to
abandon the school system to enter the labour market to help support their
families and the second discouraging them to do so due to the lack of la-
bour opportunities for them, the first effect appeared to be stronger.
Two studies by Boada, Herrera, Mas, Minarro, Olivella and Riudor
(2011) and by García-Pérez, Hidalgo-Hidalgo and Robles-Zurita (2014) used
PISA 2006 and PISA 2009 data, respectively, to analyse characteristics of
Spanish students at risk of ESL based on low PISA achievement and inves-
tigated the associations between this risk and grade repetition. The first
study reported that skills in reading and mathematics significantly affect-
ed the likelihood of repetition. The second study stated that grade reten-
tion has a negative impact on students’ achievement. The authors conclud-
ed that repetition may not be the right policy to help weak students and
should be combined with other practices to help in closing learning gaps,
e.g. remedial education or ECEC interventions.
NESSE (2010) commissioned an independent expert report on ESL in
Europe in which the causes, consequences and possible remedies for ESL
were examined. To a small extent the report used PISA analyses, conducted
by Willms (2006), on whose basis the report concluded there is an impor-
tant school composition effect on ESL. School composition effect refers to
the ways the characteristics of the student body as a whole, especially its so-
cial make-up, affect school processes and influence the achievement of stu-
dents, even after taking individual students’ SES into account. The report
elaborates that a young person – with the same mix of dis/advantages and
the same history of school achievement – will leave one school early but
would not leave another school early. Within the context of OECD work, a
literature review by Lyche (2010) on international research in the ESL field
in OECD countries incorporated the PISA results by investigating factors
associated with low achievement. It also concluded that PISA shows a clear
advantage when attending schools where students come from a more ad-
vantaged socio-economic background. These two studies seem to be in
196
