Why vulnerable early school leavers return to and re-engage with education: push and pull reasons underlying their decision

ABSTRACT

Students who leave school early is an issue of global concern, and various measures have been taken to help early leavers return to school, including second chance education programmes. This qualitative case study explores their reasons for continuing education in a second chance education programme in a successful educational centre located in Ceuta, a unique Spanish city. Our findings indicate that there is a complex interplay of educational, family and economical aspects pushing and pulling the participants to resume education, but that their beliefs on these factors and their agency are key in this process. These findings can contribute to prevent disengagement and leaving from education and training in the future by informing the measures for educational reintegration.

KEYWORDS:

• Early school leaving
• educational re-engagement
• second chance education
• Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET)
• social exclusion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Instituto de Estudios Ceutíes (Convocatoria 2015 de Ayudas a la Investigación) [Institute for Studies on Ceuta (2015 Call for Research Proposals)].

Notes on contributors

Antonio Portela Pruaño

Antonio Portela Pruaño holds a doctorate in Philosophy and Educational Sciences from the University of Murcia. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Didactics and School Organisation in this university’s Faculty of Education. His main research interests include educational re-engagement of vulnerable students, teacher professional development, and inclusive school leadership

María Jesús Rodríguez Entrena

María Jesús Rodríguez Entrena holds a doctorate in Education from the University of Murcia. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Didactics and School Organisation in this university’s Faculty of Education. Her main research interests include school leadership, equity and social justice in education, and educational re-engagement of vulnerable students.

Ana Torres Soto

Ana Torres Soto holds a doctorate from the University of Murcia. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Didactics and School Organisation in this university’s Faculty of Education. Her main research interests include educational teaching methods, educational innovations, and re-engagement of vulnerable students.

José Miguel Nieto Cano

José Miguel Nieto Cano holds a doctorate in Philosophy and Educational Sciences from the University of Murcia. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Didactics and School Organisation in this university’s Faculty of Education. His main research interests include school leadership, school improvement, and educational re-engagement of vulnerable students.