The influence of school mobility and dropout rates on non-mobile students’ school engagement: a chicken-and-egg situation?

ABSTRACT

Transferring to another school or leaving the educational system altogether has considerable consequences not only for the student who makes the decision to leave, but also for the students who stay behind. This paper aims to investigate the effects of secondary schools’ mobility and dropout rates on the levels of school engagement in the persistent student population, drawing on peer effect research in engagement and dropout literature. Multilevel analysis was carried out on data collected in 2015 from 1577 non-mobile students in 25 Ghentian (Belgium) schools, who participated in the International Study of City Youth-project (ISCY). The findings suggest that schools get caught up in a vicious circle, in which higher in-mobility rates bring about lower levels of behavioral engagement in non-mobile students, making those students in turn more vulnerable for negative educational decisions like dropping out or changing schools.

KEYWORDS:

• School engagement
• school dropout rate
• school mobility rate
• non-mobile students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Statements of credit or research support

This research article uses data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY). ISCY is an international collaborative project designed and implemented by various research partners from across the world and led by the Centre for International Research on Education Systems (CIRES) at Victoria University, Australia. ISCY has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Victorian Department of Education and Training, CIRES, and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). We acknowledge the support and contribution made by all students, teachers and schools participating in the project.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emma Degroote

Emma Degroote started her sociological career as a sociology student at Ghent University, Belgium. Immediately after graduating in July 2016, she applied for the job of teaching assistant and PhD researcher at the Department of Sociology, research team CuDOS (Cultural Diversity: Opportunities and Socialisation). With Mieke Van Houtte as her supervisor and in the tradition of school effects research, she investigates the educational problems of student turnover and selective labeling of student behavior as disruptive in primary and secondary schools (for full biography, see https://biblio.ugent.be/person/802002376233).

Jannick Demanet

Jannick Demanet, PhD in Sociology, is assistant professor at the Department of Sociology, research team CuDOS (Cultural Diversity: Opportunities and Socialisation), at Ghent University, Belgium. His research deals with contextual effects, originating from school contexts and educational systems, on antischool attitudes and behavior and postsecondary education outcomes. He further researches friendships, bullying/victimization, grade retention, and teacher expectations. His work has been published in, among others, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Sociological Quarterly, American Educational Research Journal, Acta Sociologica, and Teaching and Teacher Education (for full bibliography, see https://biblio.ugent.be/person/802000232230). Since 2015, he is member of the board of the Research Network 10 (Sociology of Education) of the European Sociological Association (ESA). Since 2012, he is the coordinator of the International Study of City Youth in Ghent, Belgium.

Mieke Van Houtte

Mieke Van Houtte is full professor and head of the research team CuDOS (Department of Sociology, Ghent University, Belgium). Her research interests cover diverse topics within the sociology of education, particularly the effects of structural and compositional school features on several diverse outcomes for students and teachers, and sexual minorities. She published more than 100 articles in journals as Sociology of Education, American Educational Research Journal, Acta Sociologica, Sex Roles, Gender and Education (https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801000942270). Since 2009 she is member of the board, and since 2017 coordinator, of the Research Network 10 (Sociology of Education) of the European Sociological Association (ESA). She is a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts.