Page 32 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

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

Other factors impact on disengagement from school, those commonly
associated with early school leaving are often related to the individual, the
socioeconomic background and the external environment (GHK, 2005). Young
people who are not in education, employment or training are disproportionately
likely to have experienced poor attainment at school, low motivation, truancy,
homelessness, poverty, lack of family support, health problems, special
educational needs, disabilities or unemployment in the family. Many have had
negative experiences of school and faced issues such as bullying, exclusion,
behavioural difficulties, and stress. Some young people from relatively poor
backgrounds find it difficult to progress into further education or training as they
struggle to cope financially or they feel pressure to begin contributing to family
finances. For some young people, finding an opportunity to earn money, by
whatever means, becomes a priority over continuing their education or training.
Individual schools also tend to differ greatly in terms of the number of early
school leavers and the educational performance of students (Traag and van den
Velden, 2008). This implies that the school environment (physical, social, school
atmosphere) and the teaching staff (expectations, style of delivery, understanding
of the needs of and experience in working with marginalised groups) play a part
in raising aspirations and supporting school completion. Further, a significant
proportion of young people leave school early as a result of disaffection with the
system, skills limitations (such as poor basic skills) or due to the lack of
availability of alternative forms of learning opportunities (BCA, 2003). Many drop-
outs, and sometimes their parents too, have low expectations for themselves.
They tend to have short-term life plans and cannot envisage a future career
pathway, only an extension of their present situation (Stokes, 2000). Some
researchers argue that some young people make a conscious ‘choice’ not to
participate, for example, by adopting an ‘anti-learning culture’ as a means of
gaining credibility and status with peers (Spielhofer et al., 2009).
The Community Health Systems Resource Group (2005) supports this
perspective by identifying that early school leaving is typically not based on a
single decision made at a specific moment; usually young people choose to leave
school even though they know that education and training can increase their
chances of getting better jobs and higher earnings in the future (European
Commission, 2008e). Employment conditions for young people have an important
role to play in their decision, as the availability of employment opportunities for
the low-skilled can be a disincentive for young people to stay in school. The
strong economic climate of the early part of the current decade pulled many
young people prematurely into the buoyant labour markets of countries such as
Ireland. Tourism, traditional maritime sectors, retail and agriculture provide jobs

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