Page 28 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

Guiding at-risk youth through learning to work
Lessons from across Europe

3.1. Early school leaving

3.1.1. Defining early school leaving
Although there has been a clear and growing focus on school drop-out, various
definitions exist for early school leaving. It is not possible within the context of this
study to go into detail about the differences but it is important to bear in mind that
the EU definition differs from other international and many national ones. The
European Union defines early school leavers as 18 to 24 year olds who have
only lower secondary level education and are not in further education and training
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( ). However, the OECD definition encompasses 20-24 year olds with education
below upper secondary education. The situation is further complicated by
variations in the length of compulsory education across the different national
education systems. This study uses the EU definition of early school leaving but
takes account of national contexts in identifying and discussing good practice
examples.

3.1.2. Scale of early school leaving
When the Education and training 2010 benchmark was established in 2001 at
10 %, almost one in six young people aged 18-24 were early school leavers.
Since then, there has been a reduction in the rate of early school leaving of three
percentage points, from 17.6 % in 2000 to 14.8 % in 2007. By 2007, every
seventh person was classified as an early school leaver and around six million
young people finished schooling with less than upper secondary education.
Progress has been slow and the target will not be achieved within the current
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timeframe ( ). As a result, the EU continues to encourage the Member States to
allocate significant resources to student retention efforts, as well as reintegration
and second-chance measures.
The patterns of progress are diverse between EU countries (see Figure 1),
and Europe tends to show a north/south divide on this issue (European
Commission, 2009b). In 2007 only six Member States had reached the

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( ) According to the Eurostat definition, early school leavers are the percentage of the population
aged 18-24 with, at most, lower secondary education and not in further education or training. It
refers to persons aged 18 to 24 in the following two conditions: the highest level of education
or training attained is ISCED 0, 1, 2 or 3c and respondents declared not having received any
education or training in the four weeks preceding the survey (numerator). The denominator
consist in the total population of the same age group, excluding no answers to the questions
‘highest level of education or training attained’ and ‘participation to education and training’.
( ) The benchmark must be seen as indicative due to the associated caveats (see GHK, 2005 for
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further information about shortcomings in statistics on early school leaving). Further, 12 new
countries have joined the EU since the introduction of the benchmark. The increased levels of
mobility and migration must also be taken into consideration.

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