Reversing the trajectory of school disengagement? Lessons from the analysis of Warsaw youth’s educational trajectories

Abstract

The theoretical framework of the paper combines the notions of school disengagement and educational trajectories. Our current research has demonstrated that several trajectories of school disengagement can be distinguished: unanticipated crisis, parabola, downward spiral, boomerang, resilient route, shading out. The text focuses on two trajectory types – the parabola, when youngsters facing increasing school disengagement are provided with substantial support and their trajectory changes its direction, and the downward spiral, which despite the support leads to further school disengagement and school leaving. Analysing the educational biographies of students from secondary schools in Warsaw, we focus on their perceptions of the support provided by different formal and informal sources. Investigating the protective factors and successful interventions might thus be useful in fostering the educational success of youth at risk. An analysis of the trajectories might be treated as guidance as to how to offset the negative impact of social and educational inequalities and hence to reverse the negative direction in one’s educational trajectory. The text is based on qualitative analysis of data obtained within an international research project: individual semi-structured interviews with Polish students at risk of early school leaving and youngsters who left school early.

The Impact of Educational Policies in High Schools With a Sports Profile

“…In the absence of a proper adviser at the end of the lower secondary school (VIIIth grade), many transfers that take place on leaving the SPH are the effect of parents' inability to correctly perceive educational offers for high school, to risk a potential inadaptation of the child to a profile requiring a special type of daily program and, last but not least, to estimate the budget allocated to material support expenditure for student throughout his schooling (Abbott & Collins, 2004;Hanushek et al, 2004;Erickson et al, 2009;Sutton et al, 2013;Collins et al, 2015;Tomaszewska-Pękała, 2019).…”

Engagement SPIRALS in Elementary Students: A School-Based Self-Regulated Learning Approach

“…A progressive fall in student engagement is usually associated with school dropout processes [22][23][24], which can be predicted even from elementary school [25], and it is more evident in the transition between elementary and secondary school [26]. Engagement may be understood as students' thoughts, emotions, and behaviors concerning their school experiences, along with their commitment to their educational goals [27].…”

“…Moreover, these students are prone to attend class, participate actively, and make clear efforts to construct meaningful learning (behavioral dimension) [27,28]. Student engagement can be negatively affected by the presence of risk factors and how school and students deal with them (e.g., school staff's capacity to detect and tackle problems early, and students' ability to seek support) [24]. Thus, one of the possible trajectories of disengagement from school describes a downward spiral, originating in an accumulation of socio-educational disadvantages, even from early infancy, in the school or family context [24,29], which is something that happens to Roma children [16].…”

“…Student engagement can be negatively affected by the presence of risk factors and how school and students deal with them (e.g., school staff's capacity to detect and tackle problems early, and students' ability to seek support) [24]. Thus, one of the possible trajectories of disengagement from school describes a downward spiral, originating in an accumulation of socio-educational disadvantages, even from early infancy, in the school or family context [24,29], which is something that happens to Roma children [16]. Students have less access to opportunities for quality learning when they attend schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods [29].…”

“…Finally, poor school practices can influence school disengagement; for instance, when schools do not promote core skills such as the use of self-regulation strategies, which are often associated with better reading competence and academic performance [31,33,34] or seeking help and support [24,35]. Nevertheless, given that learning self-regulation skills are not generally taught explicitly in class, the more disadvantaged students, who usually lack knowledge on these strategies [31], find it more challenging to involve themselves effectively in the school context.…”