The issue of students dropping out before completing secondary education is a global concern with significant individual and societal consequences. Various terms, such as Early School Leaving (ESL), Early Leaving from Education and Training (ELET), and school dropout, reflect different policy perspectives on this phenomenon. Despite international…

This article sets out to share the experience of a Cork Education and Training Board (CETB) Further Education and Training (FET) Guidance Counsellor on collaborating with FET Literacy and Apprenticeship Services colleagues to support young male early school leavers who had achieved less than the required five passes in their Junior Certificate to…

In current Western societies, the number of students dropping out of school is high. At the same time, the importance of education leads to an increase in Second Chance Education (SCE) initiatives as an alternative way to obtain a degree. Little is known about the roles SCE can play as a learning environment for students "'dropping in'"…

Chile offers high school dropouts a chance to graduate through enrollment in Second Opportunity Centers, located in cities ranging in population from 5 million inhabitants to less than 100,000. Participants in 18 centers were classified into four distinct classes based on their family situation, handicaps, employment, experience with…

This article investigates the career paths of learners who attended Youthreach education centres. Youthreach originated in 1989 as an alternative pathway for early school learners experiencing disadvantage. Youthreach is an underresearched sector of the education system, even less is known about the career progression of Youthreach graduates. This…

This publication on out-of-school-children (OOSC) in the Pacific is a timely and important contribution to consider interventions to ameliorate educational disparities in the region. A contemporary view of the nine Pacific Island Countries (PICs) that are also members of the Commonwealth are captured as distinct case studies in the publication.…

This study investigates the change in students' cognitive engagement as a result of participation in a Flexible Learning Programme. Using an understanding of engagement as both a process and a relationship between the students and their school, we sought to determine whether students' perception of competency, willingness to engage, and…

This study examines Early School Leaving (ESL) and resilience in young people aged 15-20. It explores effects of negative internalised stereotypes on Early School Leavers (ESLs). Three Positive Youth Development (PYD) programmes were used to challenge these stereotypes in one Youthreach centre. 19 participants recruited from a Youthreach centre…

The Kenyan education system has very limited re-entry options for learners who drop out before attaining secondary school certificate. It is very difficult to access training and or secure a job that requires at least secondary school education. This study examined the prospects of initiating Open and Distance e-Learning(ODeL) in re-entry…

This paper tackles what is arguably one of the most pressing and intractable educational issues confronting western democracies--the disengagement and disconnection from schooling of alarming numbers of young people. The paper looks at the policy response in Victoria, Australia, and through ethnographic interviews with a small number of young…

Although vocational education and training is considered to be a good option for improving livelihood opportunities for marginalised youth in developing countries, it often suffers from an image problem. This situation affects the quality of entrants, instruction and skills acquisition in training programmes. In this article, the researchers…

This paper invokes the voices of young people who had been separated from mainstream schooling because they were positioned as "disengaged" and "at risk of failing". The authors argue that streaming students out of schooling needs serious questioning as an escalating number of young people are framed as non-performers within a…

This research investigates the oft-criticised segment of the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia--private, for-profit registered training organisations (RTOs)--with the aim of gaining a clearer understanding of the approaches they adopt in training 15 to 19-year-olds who have left school early. Through a nationwide survey…

Purpose: This study aims to deal with the role of vocational training in developing social inclusion by analyzing the school-to-work transitional outcomes of early school leavers whose successful experience in vocational training was documented in previous works. Design/methodology/approach: The sample comprises 126 males who enrolled in and…

This paper is concerned with the gap in educational provision for vulnerable learners in Malawi who are at risk of falling behind and dropping out of school due to irregular attendance. It draws on a study in high HIV-prevalence areas that explores the patterns of inequality and disadvantage that disrupt learning and uses this knowledge to design…