Page 30 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

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

Figure 1 does not show regional differences, which in some cases are
substantial. For example, the differences between the Spanish autonomous
communities are vast, with some regions having achieved the 2010 target and
others having some of the highest rates of early school leavers in Europe.
Societal attitudes towards education and training, historical context and
differences in education and welfare regimes are some of the factors contributing
to regional and national differences in early school leaving rates.

3.1.3. Scope of the problem
Many young people do not persist with education or training that rejects them
(Stokes, 2000), or where they do not feel comfortable, or feel they do not belong.
Some simply react by dropping out. The young people who respond in this way
come from diverse backgrounds; not all of them leave or ‘underachieve’ for the
same reason, and the reasons are not even always negative (Dhillon, 2007). This
means that early school leavers are not a homogeneous group. Indeed, many
respond to a mixture of push and pull factors, though there are some who are
considered more at risk of dropping out than others.
For example, gender has a significant influence on rates of early school
leaving and young men are more likely to be early school leavers than young
women. In 2007, the early school leaving rate for young women in the EU-27 was
12.7 % while the rate for young men was almost 17 %. Only in Bulgaria is there a
slightly higher number of young women than men who leave school before
completing at least upper secondary education. Gender differences across
Member States varied from small variations (0.1 percentage point difference in
Romania, 1.4 in Austria, and 1.5 in Germany) to significant variations (7.9
percentage point difference in Greece, 8.1 in Luxembourg, and 10.5 in Spain).
There is also evidence that minority ethnic and migrant groups are over-
represented among early school leavers in most study countries. In 2005, the
rate of early school leaving among non-nationals, as defined in the Labour force
survey, was 30.1 %, while the rate for nationals was 13 % (European
Commission, 2008e). Non-national early school leavers make up over 40 % of all
early school leavers in Greece, Iceland, Italy, Malta and Spain. The smallest
differences between nationals and non-nationals are found in countries which
have comprehensive education and training systems that prioritise equity, equal
access to education and permeability of study pathways (European Commission,
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2008e) ( ).

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( ) It is essential to bear in mind that in some countries an important proportion of young people
who are classified as early school leavers may not have been educated in the host country’s

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