School Dropouts: Different Faces in Different Countries

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School Dropouts Different Faces in Different
Countries

• Monitoring Initiative of the Network of Education
  Policy Centers
• OSI Education Conference
• Budapest, July 2005

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PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES

• Eastern Europe (Estonia,Latvia, Slovakia)
• South East Europe (Albania)
• Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan)
• Mongolia

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RESEARCH GOALS

• To identify the depth of the problem
• To raise awareness about the issue of school
  dropouts
• To assess the actual influence of different
  factors
• To assess the content and implementation of
  existing regulations / legislation
• To develop recommendations based on the findings
• To provide background for advocacy process on DO
  issue

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METHODOLOGY

• Cabinet research
• Review of the literature
• Analysis of regulations and legislation
• Field research
• Questionnaires
• Individual interviews
• Focus-groups

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Sampling
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Dropouts Common pitfalls

• Definitions they differ among and within
  countries
• Statistics no reliable, comparable and
  consistent data
• Misreporting blame culture or school funding
  depends on the enrollment

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Dropouts common reasons

• Poverty
• Lack of motivation
• Family factors
• School climate
• Poor academic achievements

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Problems of Non-Attendance and Dropping-out of
Secondary Schools in Kazakhstan

• Education Policy Analysis Center,
• Sange Research Agency

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Country context

• Drop-out is a hidden problem - officially 0.2
  (Vseobuch)
• For years of independence new groups of children
  at risk emerging
• street children,
• children from disadvantages families
• oralmans (Kazakh repatriate from China, Iran,
  Mongolia, Uzbekistan, etc),
• social orphans.

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Kazakhstan key factors

• Lack of motivation
• Poverty
• Migration
• Home environment
• Conflicts with teachers or school administrators

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Kazakhstan key recommendations

• Legislation
• Developing clear definitions of drop-outs,
  non-attendees, non-enrolled, etc.
• Sharing responsibilities between different actors
• Raising effectiveness of Vseobuch program

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Kazakhstan key recommendations

• Statistics
• Coordination between involved agencies
• Creation of common data base
• Conducting regular statistical research
• Curriculum
• Child-oriented content
• Child-oriented methods of teaching
• Teachers training

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Factors Hindering Completion of Basic Education
In Latvia
Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS

• Indra Dedze
• Maiga Kruzmetra
• Solvita Lazdina
• Ingrida Mikiko

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Compulsory Education in Latvia
The Law on Education and the Law on
Comprehensive Education provide that the basic
education or the education of 9 forms that starts
at the age of 7 is compulsory. This provision is
in force till the age of 18
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Definitions

• A dropout or a child, who has dropped out of
  education process a pupil who has not completed
  basic education and no longer attends school .
• Children on the verge of dropping out pupils
  who have not attend school for six months and
  thus are unable to meet the demands set for basic
  education.

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Latvia Key Findings

• Parents have no close links with the school
• Dropouts were not involved in school activities
• Some of the pupils have taken paid employment
• Dropouts were failing in a specific group of
  subjects
• Pupils had low motivation to study and problems
  with discipline
• Family characteristics - families have changed
  their place of residence, the majority of kids
  come from families with 1-2 children, one or even
  both parents are employed lack of close family
  ties between pupils and parents

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Latvia Key Recommendations

• Ministry of Education and Science
• To develop clear and systematic scheme for
  reintegrating the pupils on the verge of dropping
  out into education,
• To carry out research when exactly motivation to
  learn starts disappearing,
• The Centre for Curricula Development and
  Examinations (ISEC)
• To review the program contents and curricula
  according to the ability level of the largest
  part of the pupils,
• To ensure closer links of the contents with real
  life.

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Latvia Key Recommendations

• Ministry of Education and Science, Education
  Boards, Institutions of education
• To develop a better system School-pupil-parents
  to ensure regular exchange of information and
  joint action program.
• Teacher Training Institutions
• Instruct teachers how to work with pupils who
  have various motivation.
• Municipalities
• Ensure more extensive assistance of social
  pedagogues and psychologist in working with the
  drop-outs
• Together with career centres improve career
  choice assistance at schools.

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TajikistanProject Children out of school

• Education Reform Support
• Center Pulse

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Reasons for dropout
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Parent level of education
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Years when children surveyed dropped out of
school
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Recommendations on organization of school
activities

• Create favorable conditions for school and
  community collaboration
• Develop an action plan to bring students back to
  school and to prevent them from dropping out
• Design and implement a plan and a set of
  activities with children and families
• Conduct a profound study of childrens interests
  and characteristics with a view to identify and
  prevent potential student deviation from
  acceptable patterns of behavior.

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Recommendations in family and community

• Engage with parents on issues of parenting,
  preparing them for school and life
• Use influential people of authority to explain to
  parents and children the role education plays in
  development of personality and society
• Find an opportunity to provide financial support
  for children from disadvantaged families
• Carry out ongoing work with children, show
  interest in their problems and needs.

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The Mongolian Drop Out Study
Mongolian Education Alliance in collaboration
with the Open Society Institute Educational
Support Program
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Summary of Findings
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Definition(s) of Drop Out

• The definition of DO varies depending on who is
  defining it, although it officially refers to
  children who quit after attending a period of
  formal schooling.
• The official terminology used by the MOESC, in
  compliance with the Education Laws requirement
  of mandatory enrolment in basic education (grades
  1 through 9), defines dropouts as children at the
  age of compulsory basic education (currently 7
  through 16) who are not attending school.

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Information Base Registration and Computation of
School Drop Outs

• MOECS collects and processes statistical data
  related to school drop out across Mongolia using
  two standard forms.

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Information Base Registration and Computation of
School Drop Outs

• One serious flaw although information is
  elicited in terms of reason for school change,
  i.e., Transfer within the aimag or transfer to
  other aimag, city, which is an indicator, there
  is no established controlling or monitoring
  system to determine if children who transfer
  actually re-enter the school at the aimag or
  soum/bagh they migrate to.
• If the transfer occurs within the aimag, then the
  number of increased pupils at the aimag will be
  equal to number who transferred. However, at
  present these numbers are different.

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Drop Out Reasons
Policy Focus Areas
Systemic problems with the education system

• Poverty/low income or lack of means of
  subsistence
• Child-labor related reasons such as herding, need
  to earn a living to help support the family, and
  need to take care of siblings or older members of
  the family
• Migration
• Lack of dormitories
• Teacher discrimination

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Systemic problems with the Mongolian education
system

• Teachers salaries and loads as they relate to
  poor performing students who eventually drop out
• Pre-school education and drop outs
• Quality of instruction, curriculum evaluation and
  opportunities for teachers to get higher
  professional qualification

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Drop Out Reasons
Understudied Areas

• Physical and/or mental disabilities
• Lack of communication and
• socialization skills
• Bullying or peer discrimination
• Educational level of parents

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Gender Issue Boys Drop Out
Results from the survey indicated that more boys
never attended school or had to drop out since
they had to herd (71.4) and need to work to help
the family (61.5)
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Policy Recommendations and Indicators
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• On the Definition(s) of Drop Out
• There should be a nationwide information and
  awareness campaign on who a drop out is in order
  that standardized procedures could be set up
  properly identifying drop out and to avoid the
  current confusion on who a drop out is.
• The campaign should also focus on the negative
  impact of drop out on Mongolian society, but more
  importantly, on the Mongolian child.

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On Registering and Recording Drop Out Rate

• There should be an exhaustive policy review on
  the methods and procedures on the counting of
  drop out with the end view of instituting
  efficient data collection and record keeping
  systems and procedures from the bagh level to the
  central office of the MOECS.

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• There should be an institutionalized check and
  balance and cross referencing of data sources
  bearing in mind the political and economic
  implications of the politics of the statistics
  of drop outs pointed out by Steiner-Khamsi,
  Stolpe  and Amgaabazar ( 2004).

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On Drop Out Reasons
Poverty alleviation measures should be concerted
and coordinated to provide sustainable employment
opportunities and income generating initiatives
especially for the population of rural Mongolia.
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• The drop out issue should be treated as a
  separate concern, not lumped together with other
  poverty related issues in order that it would get
  the necessary government support and attention it
  deserves including corresponding budgetary
  appropriation.

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• Immediate review and reforms should be carried
  out to address the systemic problems plaguing the
  Mongolian educational system, including but not
  limited, to
• the review of the mandatory pre-school education
  provisions
• curriculum standards
• teacher skills and professional development

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• the policy on teachers salaries making them
  contingent on student performance
• the prevailing practice of collecting money from
  students
• teacher discrimination
• lack of dormitory space

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• Measures should be in place to protect and
  assist the disabled children
• On Legislation and Policies
• There should be a national policy enactment that
  would provide for the overseeing of the drop out
  incidence with appropriate penalty provisions and
  sanctions against those who cause or, are
  instrumental, in the dropping out of a child from
  school in order to avert the drop out rate.

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• There should be oversight committees both at the
  central and local levels to monitor drop out
  cases in both areas.
• Recommended Indicators on Drop Out
• Income level /poverty level
• Prolonged unexcused absences
• Transfer within the aimag or transfer to other
  
• aimag, city.
• Big family (4 or more children with 1 or 2
  children who
• already dropped out)
• Working after school
• High rate of truancy