D.08. Practices of Freedom in Democratic Schooling: Policies, Reflections and Actions to Prevent and Counteract Early School Leaving

Educational systems grounded in democratic principles should ensure that every learner - regardless of sociocultural, linguistic, economic, and any other form of structural disadvantage background - must access meaningful opportunities for growth and emancipation. In this perspective education is both the process and the precondition for sustaining a democratic society and enabling full citizenship (Dewey, 1916). It is only through a genuinely democratic education that a practice of freedom can take place, allowing vulnerable groups to liberate themselves and to critically read and transform the world (Freire, 1970). Yet international data on early leaving from education reveals persistent inequalities that undermine these ideals: rates of school dropout remain disproportionately high among socio-economically vulnerable communities (Eurostat, 2024).These dynamics demonstrate that the promise of democratic education is far from being fulfilled. Thus, to ensure truly equitable education - from early childhood through upper secondary schooling - it is required not only preventing early school leaving but also addressing its structural ecosystemic roots. This panel invites empirical and theoretical contributions that explore early school leaving as a complex phenomenon and that propose innovative approaches for its prevention and contrast. We welcome studies focused on policies, pedagogies, teacher education, family–school–community partnerships, and decolonial or justice-oriented frameworks capable of redesigning education as a space of inclusion, social cohesion, and democratic belonging for all learners. Each contribution should present in-depth theoretical assumptions, accompanied by a clear description of the study design (e.g., ethnography, action research, case studies...) and include relevant results.