School Dropout and Completion

School dropout remains a persistent and critical issue in many school systems, so much so that it is sometimes referred to as a crisis. Populations across the globe have come to depend on success at school for establishing careers and gaining access to post-school qualifications. Yet large numbers of young people are excluded from the advantages that successful completion of school brings and as a result are subjected to consequences such as higher likelihood of unemployment, lower earnings, greater dependence on welfare and poorer physical health and well-being.Over recent decades, most western nations have stepped up their efforts to reduce drop out and raise school completion rates while maintaining high standards. How school systems have approached this, and how successful they are, varies. This book compares the various approaches by evaluating their impact on rates of dropout and completion. Case studies of national systems are used to highlight the different approaches including institutional arrangements and the various alternative secondary school programs and their outcomes. The evaluation is based on several key questions: What are the main approaches? How do they work? For whom do they work? And, how successful are they in promoting high rates of completion and equivalent outcomes for all?This book examines the nature of the dropout problem in advanced industrialized countries with the goal of developing a broader, international understanding that can feed into public policy to help improve completion rates worldwide.

This book examines the nature of the school dropout problem in advanced industrialized countries with the goal of developing a broader, international understanding that can feed into public policy to help improve completion rates worldwide.

Gives an unique insight in the dimensions across different school systems regarding early school leaving or dropout

Contents.- List of tables.- List of figures.- List of contributors.- Acknowledgements.- School dropout and completion: an international perspective.- Stephen Lamb and Eifred Markussen.- PART 1: STRUCTURES AND PATHWAYS.- Pathways to school completion: an international comparison an international comparison.- Stephen Lamb.- PART 2: CASE STUDIES.- Introduction to the European education systems.- Stephen Lamb.- The question of school dropout: a French perspective.- Marianne Blanchard.- School dropout and completion in Spain.- Raphael Merino and Maribel Garcia.- Towards compulsory participation: the case of England.- Alice Sullivan and Lorna Unwin.- Participation in post-compulsory learning in Scotland.- David Raffe.- Germany's educational system and the problem of dropouts: institutional segregation and program diversification.- Andrea Reupold and Rudi Tippelt.- School dropout in secondary education: the case of Poland.- Piotr Mikiewicz.- School dropout and completion in Switzerland.- Elisabetta Pagnossin.- Introduction to the Nordic education systems.- Eifred Markussen.- Dropout and completion in upper secondary education in Finland.- Risto Rinne and Tero Järvinen.- Dropout in a small society: is the Icelandic case somehow different?.- Kristjana Stella Blondal, Jón Torfi Jónasson and Anne-Christin Tannhäuser.- Early leaving, non-completion and completion in upper secondary education in Norway.- Eifred Markussen, Mari Wigum Frøseth, Nina Sandberg, Berit Lødding and Jorunn Spord Borgen.- Introduction to the New World education systems.- Stephen Lamb.- High school dropouts in the United States.- Russ Rumberger.- Educational systems and school dropout in Canada.- 281Michel Janosz, Sherri L. Bisset, Linda S. Pagani, and Ben Levin.- School dropout and completion in Australia.- Stephen Lamb.- PART 3: PROGRAMS, EQUITY AND POLICY.- Vocational education and training: friend or foe of the educationally disadvantaged?.- Richard Teese.- Pathways to completion for schooldropouts.- John Polesel, Adrianna Nizinska, Ewa Kurantowicz.- School dropout and inequality.- Stephen Lamb.- Policies to reduce dropout and improve completion.- Eifred Markussen and Nina Sandberg.- Subject Index.