EPC Monitoring Initiative School Dropouts

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EPC Monitoring Initiative School Dropouts

• Definitions

By Indra Dedze, OSI Budapest E-mail idedze_at_osi.hu
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OECD Definition

• Dropout is a student who leaves a specific
  level of education system without achieving first
  qualification.

UNESCO Definition
Dropping out or early school leaving is
understood as leaving school education without
completing the started cycle or program.
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Morrows Definition

• A drop out is any student previously enrolled in
  a school, who is no longer actively enrolled as
  indicated by 15 days of consecutive unexcused
  absences, who has not satisfied local standards
  for graduation, and for whom a formal request has
  been received signifying enrollment in another
  state licensed educational institutions. A
  student death is not tallied as a dropout.

Source T. Husen, T.N. Postlethwaite (Eds) The
international Encyclopedia of
Education. Vol. 2, p. 1602, Pergamon
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Definitions in Albania

• Adropout is a student who leaves school before
  its completion, for any reason other than death,
  without being enrolled in another school or
  institution.
• If the student aged 6 -16 years, the age of
  compulsory school, is for no reason absent in
  school or abandons it, his/ her parents are
  charged for law infraction with a fine from 1000
  to 10000 leaks

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Definition of the school dropouts for the
monitoring initiative

• School dropouts were children in the compulsory
  school age that were either
• (i) not in school in the end of school year,
• (ii) not finishing the last grade at the
  compulsory school level,
• (iii) not registered for the new school year, and
  
• (iv) have not got certificate of education from
  the respective age group

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Definitions in Latvia

• A dropout or a child, who has dropped out of
  education process a pupil who has not completed
  basic education and no longer attends school .
• Children on the verge of dropping out pupils
  who have not attend school for six months and
  thus are unable to meet the demands set for basic
  education.

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Definitions in Latvia (2)

• A child/ adolescent at risk,
• A child at risk in ordinary (comprehensive)
  schools,
• Vulnerable child ,
• A child, who has dropped out of education process
  or a dropout ,
• Children on the verge of dropping out ,
• Social exclusion.

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Definitions in Slovakia

• Students not attending school until its
  completion are dropouts or early school
  leavers.
• Those absent in school without a good excuse are
  truants.
• For the purposes the study the term people
  without completed basic education or dropout
  was used.

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Definitions in Kazakhstan

• For the Ministry of Education these are children
  who miss school during 10 and more days.
• The Ministry of Internal Affairs regularly
  conduct spot-checks to detect children who
  regularly do not attend school. Thus during such
  actions children who miss school without any
  valid excuse fall into the record system

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Definitions in Kazakhstan (2)

• The students who dropped out from school,
• Non-attending students,
• Sporadically non-attending students,
• Risk group (the risk of quitting school is
  meant),

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Dropouts in Tajikistan

• Children not attending school because of illness
  or disability
• Children not able to perform well and who see no
  prospects for continuing school
• Children dropping out because of low family
  standards (the poor)
• Children from mountain areas who have no access
  to school (large distance to school).
• Children of refugees who fled the country during
  the civil war.

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Definitions in Mongolia

• Official
• Dropouts as children at the age of compulsory
  basic education (currently 7 through 16) who are
  not attending school
• For teachers
• Drop outs are children who never attended school
  or those who incurred prolonged unexcused
  absences and were dropped from the list, or those
  children who just quit school.

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Definitions in Mongolia (2)

• For children and Parents
• Dropouts are those who had neither secondary
  education nor secondary higher education.
• For the study were identified
• Drop out children, and at-risk children
• At-risk children
• Poor family Big family (4 or more children with
  1 or 2 children who already dropped out)Working
  after the school High rate of truancy and
  Prolonged unexcused absences

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Internationally Used Terms

• Truancy,
• Non-attendance,
• Irregular Attendance,
• At-Risk (of Dropping Out),
• Drop-Out,
• Non-Completion (Early School Leaving),
• Non-Enrolment or Non-Registration.

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Additional terms

• Over the course of discussion the two other terms
  came up
• Hidden dropouts- children who attend school
  regularly, but are neglected in the classroom and
  then fail
• Misreported dropouts discrepancy between
  reported and observed dropouts.
• These terms were randomly used by some countries.

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Conclusions

• The international definitions were not suitable
  for the purposes of the study because
• the linguistic reasons as the adequate terms
  could not be found in the local language and
  simple translation was not possible
• the terms were understood or used differently by
  various organizations or individuals within the
  country.