Panel A.10 — Preventing early school leaving: risk factors, effective interventions and policies
Convenors Valeria Di Martino (University of Palermo, Italy); Marta Pellegrini (University of Cagliari, Italy); Rosa Vegliante (University of Salerno, Italy)
Keywords school dropout, dropout prevention, early school leaving, risk factors, efficacy
Preventing early school leaving is today a priority both in Europe and in Italy. The Council Resolution 2021/C 66/01 has set the target of reducing the school dropout rate below 9% by 2030. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) has highlighted the need for reducing early school leaving and preventing educational poverty as one of the Italian strategic objectives. Accordingly, the latest Italian data have shown that our country is far from the European objectives with a rate of 13.1% of early school leavers. The Council Resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030) has set the target of reducing the school dropout rate below 9% by 2030 (Council Resolution 2021/C 66/01). The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza; PNRR, 2021), within Mission 4 (component 1) and Mission 5 (intervention 3) has highlighted the need for implementing strategies to reduce early school leaving and contrast educational poverty. Empirical research has shown that early school dropout has serious individual, social, and economic consequences, such as low income, reduced tax revenues, higher costs for health care and criminal justice (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014).
The general objective of this panel is to focus on three areas related to the phenomenon of early school leaving: investigations of risk factors; evaluations of interventions; and analyses of international, national, and local policies. A description of the three areas and types of studies of interest is provided as follows.
Investigations of risk factors. School dropout is the result of multidimensional factors at the individual, family, school, and institutional levels (Battin-Pearson et al., 2000; EASNIE, 2019; Hammond et al., 2007; Rumberger, 2011). This panel is interested in studies that examined risk dropout factors at local and national levels using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods designs.
Evaluations of interventions. Internationally, interventions have been developed and evaluated to know what works to prevent early school leaving and to improve intermediate outcomes identified as predictors of school dropout. This panel is interested in studies that developed interventions as well as evaluated them through experimental or quasi-experimental designs.
Analyses of international, national, and local policies. School dropout needs to be addressed through a so-called eco-systemic approach (EASNIE, 2019), involving actions made at national, school, and individual levels. This panel is interested in studies analyzing international, national, and local policies for preventing school dropout as well as comparative and historical studies on different policies.