Families facing early school leaving

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. We describe the experiences and expectations of families about early school leaving. These findings are part of a research project, funded by “Consejería de Educación” in Castille and Leon. Family environment is a risk factor directly related to school dropout and is a key for prevention measures according to international reference studies. METHOD. We used an intra-grouping methodological triangulation, grouping in frequencies the answers of 418 interviews —146 early school leavers, 125 families and 147 teachers with experience in the field— with 3 discussion groups for each community. The study categories and subcategories have been validated through expert judgment, applying the Cohen Kappa coefficient to measure the inter-rater reliability. RESULTS. Families believe that more actions could have been taken to prevent their children from leaving education; they are unaware of the problem until their children start retaking a year and suffer absenteeism in Secondary Education. For families, apathy, lack of motivation and difficulty of school subjects in Secondary Education are factors that have led their children to drop out. DISCUSSION. Guidance and support to families whose children show difficulties in Primary Education, together with a specific intervention with scarce collaborative families and information to families about the early school leaving problem, with a serene debate on the role of homework assignment, would be significant steps to alleviate early school leaving.