(ACCORDING TO RESEARCH CONDUCTED IN OUR COUNTRIES-)
The problem of dropout is a very complex one, concerning all the aspects of the school community: the educational system, teachers and students, the families and the society around them
A. Reasons related to the school
The malfunctions of the modern educational system combined with old-fashioned teaching methods and unqualified personnel are creating the circumstances for the students` dropout.
- Grade- obsessed educational systems which increase rivalry and competitiveness at school. Students may become irrationally selfish and the feeling of loneliness prevails.
- Educational programs and curricula are not challenging, not grabbing students’ attention, not allowing them to be creative.
- Heavy schedules with too many classes result in lack of free time for the students’ hobbies and personal interests
- Number of students per class (too high)
- Difficult transition between education levels
- Grade retention
- The lack of school social facilities.
- The insufficient number of secondary schools obliges the students in rural areas where school age population is low to stay in boarding schools away from home, or carried by bus to remote schools in the province center .
- Administrators’ and teachers’ attitudes
- Teacher- centered learning, when it prevails, promotes parrot learning and more theoretical than practical knowledge- does not give students the chance to take active part in the education process and it does not take into consideration any distinctiveness among students.
- Unfairly applied school rules
- Teachers’ qualifications and teachers’ in service training.
- The intercultural schools do not function properly. The main culture is imposed to the minorities, the students – belonging to them- feel oppressed.
B Personal reasons
In the school environment these conditions interact with personal reasons of the students, who are adolescents at the difficult and vulnerable age of 12 till 16 years
- Violence among schoolmates and bullying at schools
- Fear of failure, failure and apathy against school. Poor students’ performance combined with repeated academic failure, can reduce the students’ self-esteem. The disappointment that children feel at school may make them indifferent towards studying or aggressive to their peers. Also, they may have some discipline problems.
- Truancy
- Lack of motivation and interest towards school (students find it boring)
- Learning difficulties and school adaptation problems
- Lack of trust in teachers,
- Friends/ Peer pressure (Bad influences)
- Physical changes and puberty cause disorientation
- Harmful habits – going to internet cafes and playing games
- Health problems
- Marriage
- Teenage pregnancy
- Conflict with the law
- Subcultures
- Low level of competences in the official language of the host country
C. Family problems
The school-parent collaboration could manage problems such as the ones mentioned above, but family issues aggravate the situations.
- Dysfunctional families ( domestic violence, alcoholism) and difficult relationship between parents (divorce – broken family)
- The child cannot take any responsibilities related to school
- Family attitudes towards education – lack of support from parents. Parents may be indifferent about their children’s progress and they may also underestimate education as one of the most important priorities set to students, or they may impose too much pressure to their students. Both situations are provoking children’s reaction.
- Low level of parents’ education – it is difficult for them to encourage their children to learn.
- Concerns of family
- Moral of family
- Family structure
- Lack of positive role models in the family
- Being the eldest child of the house
- Bias of the family
- Illnesses
D. Social reasons
The economical, political and social crisis in our days brought new problems, because of their effect to the labor market, the relations between social groups and finally to the school process.
- The effect of gender differences
- Social environment
- Lack of employment – students claim that they do not have the chance to be successful in their future life
- Financial support to families in need– some of the students have to work to give their families financial support
- Difficult integration of families of immigrants or of religious minorities
- Families which live in mountainous, poor, remote or even isolated regions don’t think that the education is among their first priorities.
- Population effect
- Negative effect of community leaders and media
- Child labor. Parents’ unemployment – financial problems lead families to mobility or urge children to get a job.
- Seasonal migration
E. Political facts
- Distrust of educational policy
- Dress code
- Safety and terror
- Distrust towards the government political opinions