This article analyses the main reasons for dropping out of Spanish Intermediate Vocational Education (IVET) and the link to personal (sex, ethnicity, age), family (parents' educational level) and financial sociodemographic characteristics, as well as academic background (repeating or expulsion). To do this, a cohort of IVET students was monitored…

The rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has democratised education, yet student dropout remains a persistent challenge. This research tackles this issue by analysing 1,273 publications on MOOC dropout rates (2020-2023) from the Scopus database using VOSviewer, a bibliometric analysis tool. By mapping the intellectual landscape, the study…

The academic dropout of higher education students represents one of the most significant challenges that university institutions have to face today. This research analysed the university academic trajectory of students who dropped out of university for good. The aim of this paper is to examine in depth the factors that influence the idea of the…

Over the last 50 years, Higher Education has experienced significant development, which has been associated with challenges that have yet to be solved. In this sense, university dropout is a global phenomenon that worries universities all over the world. Many research studies describe the possible causes of this phenomenon, but the most…

Most education systems have set a minimum age until which students must stay at school. In the case of Spain, students can drop out the same day they reach that age, even without finishing that academic year. In the present research work, we intend to analyse the influence of early dropout on later life outcomes for the Spanish population, i.e.…

Within OECD countries, 20% of university students continue no further than the first year. The objective of this research is to analyse the antecedents of student commitment, so as to design action plans for reducing dropout rates within higher education. Educational engagement, student--university identification and perception of performance were…

Higher education dropout has been considered a major concern for several researchers in the field of education around the World. Although different studies were carried out to deal with the topic, they all faced common limitations. This paper explores the twofold research conducted to investigate higher education dropout in Education studies at…

University dropout is a phenomenon of growing interest in the knowledge society. However, it is a complex phenomenon in which a variety of academic and social variables interact with each other. Cyberbullying is also something that has been the subject of increased research recently, and although it has most often been studied in primary and…

Early leaving studies demonstrate it is possible to improve young people's opportunities through education and training. The current research evidence has yet to agree a definitive answer as to where the primary policy focus to improve their life chances should be. That is, which risk factors are the most impactful for minimising early school…

Transitions to upper secondary education are of crucial importance to understanding educational inequalities. They are also vital in explaining the contemporary dynamics of Early School Leaving. Global hegemonic discourses around educational transitions and Early School Leaving shape student pathways in terms of rational and linear choices,…

Early school leaving is a major social problem and a socio-political priority in knowledge-based societies, especially in southern European countries that have a tendency for comparatively high dropout rates. The literature has focused strongly on the exogenous factors that cause students to leave school early. Meanwhile, endogenous factors, such…

This synthesis report is based on a survey carried out during 2022 with Cedefop's reporting network ReferNet. It makes an important contribution to understanding the magnitude of early leaving from VET (ELVET) in those European countries where relevant data are available, and the mechanisms and support measures countries employ to measure and…

Early school leaving (ESL) is considered one of the most serious problems in the functioning of European education systems. In particular, Spain has traditionally exhibited one of the largest ESL rates in Europe. This study aimed to shed light on the role of the month of birth as a factor conditioning the probability of ESL. Using high-quality…

This paper applies a conceptual framework of five key categories (personal challenges, social relationships, family circumstances, institutional features of school/work, and structural factors) to consider the comparative contexts of risks to Early Leaving (EL) in key regions within Spain with a high national level of EL and England, a nation with…

This article extends our understanding of early school leaving in developed countries by analysing whether the risk of dropping out depends on family characteristics such as number of siblings and birth order. The study is based on a large sample of the 2011 Spanish census and estimates the relative risks of early school leaving using Poisson…