Early School Leavers and Social Disadvantage in Spain: from books to bricks and vice‐versa

Abstract

IntroductionAccording to the latest Eurostat report (2012a) on early school leaving (ESL), Spain has twice the EU-27 rate with 28% of those aged 18 to 24 having completed no more than lower-secondary education and not being involved in further education and training. The same report shows that only 61% of the Spanish population aged between 20 and 24 have completed higher secondary education, compared to the EU-27 average of 79%. At a time when government austerity measures are in place and unemployment is rising, ESL rates in Spain converge with the highest level of youth unemployment of the EU. The fact that 51.68% of Spanish young people aged between 20 and 24 are unemployed is extremely alarming, and the percentages increase among those with less training. These worrying levels have made both ESL and youth unemployment subjects of concern, debate and analysis in the Spanish educational and political agenda.In the context of Spain's particularly acute crisis with respect to both ESL and employment, this article describes the causes and effects of ESL in Spain, bearing in mind current social, political and economic circumstances in both Spain and Europe. An analysis of the causes for the high level of ESL in Spain is a complex task that must take into consideration both structural (exogenous) factors, such as socioeconomy and class, gender, ethnicity or parents' cultural capital, and endogenous circumstances of the Spanish educational system. The article then looks at ESL and social inequality, especially in relation to the labour market, and ends with a few words on possible paths to follow for a more equitable future for all.Before exploring the reasons and consequences of ESL, one must provide a brief overview of the Spanish educational system in order to understand ESL in its historical and political context.

School Climate as a Predictor of Early School Leavers / Školska klima kao prediktor ranog prekida školovanja

“…Exogenous (e.g., socio-economic conditions, gender, ethnic origin or cultural capital of families, etc.) and endogenous factors (curriculum contents, subjective evaluation procedures determining final certificates) are involved in affecting ESL (Vallejo & Dooly, 2013). Therefore, adding other factors to the model investigated in the present study can considerably change the accounting for the variance of ESL.…”

“…In addition to the efforts of schools, solving such a problem entails a comprehensive approach (European Commission, 2013). Moreover, Vallejo and Dooly (2013) explained that ESL is a structure affected by both exogenous factors (e.g. socio-economic conditions, Croatian Journal of Education Vol.18;No.2/2016, pages: 491-517 Original research paper Paper submitted: 17 th April 2014 Paper accepted: 27 th November 2015 doi:10.15516/cje.v18i2.1355 gender, ethnic origin or cultural capital of families, etc.)…”

The perspectives of secondary school students with special needs in Spain during the crisis

“…This is particularly the case as the incumbent conservative government introduced a new Organic Law for Improving Educational Quality (LOMCE) in the summer of 2013 that not only drastically cut funding to education, but also aimed to address Spain's falling representation on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tables and early dropout rates. Under the new legislation, external evaluations are increased, and students are funnelled into either academic or vocational streams at a young age (Vallejo and Dooly, 2013).…”

What we Know about Youth Employment: Research Summary and Best Practices

“…Education is an important part of human capital, and young job seekers who have higher levels of schooling are at an advantage compared to early school leavers (Vallejo & Dooly, 2013). Although this is generally true for the workforce overall, it seems particularly true for younger people and in the context of an economic crisis (OECD, 2013b).…”