Page 54 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 54
ear ly school leaving: contempor ary european perspectives
day-to-day life within school), collaboration with teaching staff, and edu-
cational facilitation (ibid.).
Several reforms in school and vocational education and training
(VET) have taken place in France since 2013 that hold implications for pre-
venting ESL, but do not directly address it: e.g. reforms of ECEC, school
timetable, initial and continuous teacher education, priority education (re-
lated to schools in disadvantaged areas), assessment (see Eurydice, n.d. for
details). On the other hand, some reforms have been directly related to ESL
(see below for details).
In relation to governance, the French education system is by tra-
dition centralised, although the process of decentralisation over the last
three decades has led to the increasingly significant role of local author-
ities (i.e. 26 regions, about 100 departments and over 36,000 municipali-
ties). In partnership with académie (i.e. administrative district in national
education systems, generally corresponding with regions), they implement
state policy as the most appropriate to local context (Eurydice, n.d.). This
implies that also in relation to tackling ESL local authorities and academies
are in charge of the local implementation and adaptation of central-level
measures, leading to tensions between governance levels (Berthet & Simon,
2012).
ESL statistics in France
Two national definitions of ESL are in use alongside the Eurostat one:
‘non-graduate leaver’ (students who leave education without having ob-
tained an upper secondary qualification) and ‘drop-out’ (students who
leave education before completing a programme they are attending below
upper secondary education) (EC/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014). In ad-
dition to collecting data for Eurostat, France also collects data in accord-
ance with the national definition. There has been some debate as to wheth-
er the ministry collects data on ESL in an unbiased way (for details, see
Thibert, 2013).
Figure 3 shows Eurostat’s ESL rate in France in the last two decades. A
steady decline can be observed, even though comparability over time be-
fore 2005 (at EU level) and even after 2013 (France-specific methodologi-
cal changes, EC, 2014b) is limited. The ESL rate in France has traditionally
been below the EU average.
The ESL rate in France dropped below the Europe 2020 target of 10%
for the first time in 2013 and below the national target of 9.5% in 2014. In
54
day-to-day life within school), collaboration with teaching staff, and edu-
cational facilitation (ibid.).
Several reforms in school and vocational education and training
(VET) have taken place in France since 2013 that hold implications for pre-
venting ESL, but do not directly address it: e.g. reforms of ECEC, school
timetable, initial and continuous teacher education, priority education (re-
lated to schools in disadvantaged areas), assessment (see Eurydice, n.d. for
details). On the other hand, some reforms have been directly related to ESL
(see below for details).
In relation to governance, the French education system is by tra-
dition centralised, although the process of decentralisation over the last
three decades has led to the increasingly significant role of local author-
ities (i.e. 26 regions, about 100 departments and over 36,000 municipali-
ties). In partnership with académie (i.e. administrative district in national
education systems, generally corresponding with regions), they implement
state policy as the most appropriate to local context (Eurydice, n.d.). This
implies that also in relation to tackling ESL local authorities and academies
are in charge of the local implementation and adaptation of central-level
measures, leading to tensions between governance levels (Berthet & Simon,
2012).
ESL statistics in France
Two national definitions of ESL are in use alongside the Eurostat one:
‘non-graduate leaver’ (students who leave education without having ob-
tained an upper secondary qualification) and ‘drop-out’ (students who
leave education before completing a programme they are attending below
upper secondary education) (EC/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014). In ad-
dition to collecting data for Eurostat, France also collects data in accord-
ance with the national definition. There has been some debate as to wheth-
er the ministry collects data on ESL in an unbiased way (for details, see
Thibert, 2013).
Figure 3 shows Eurostat’s ESL rate in France in the last two decades. A
steady decline can be observed, even though comparability over time be-
fore 2005 (at EU level) and even after 2013 (France-specific methodologi-
cal changes, EC, 2014b) is limited. The ESL rate in France has traditionally
been below the EU average.
The ESL rate in France dropped below the Europe 2020 target of 10%
for the first time in 2013 and below the national target of 9.5% in 2014. In
54
