‘Voices’ of early school leavers in Greek educational system: A Bourdieusian approach

Abstract

In the present paper, we research the phenomenon of early school leaving through the biography of school leavers. The participants were 14 individuals (five females and nine males) who had left school early before completing secondary education. The interviewees’ discourse highlighted the mediating factors and the reasons for leaving school. Also, early school leavers are a heterogeneous group of individuals, where the diversity of their family’s cultural capital has shaped different inclusion conditions in the Greek educational system. According to the typology of Nairz-Wirth and Gitschthaler, we identified four types of early school leavers.