Transcript Post PLA France

Tackling Early School Leaving
6 September 2013
Naples
Dr. Ilona Murphy
ICF-GHK
Early Warning Systems
Context of our work
 Europe 2020 headline target to bring down the share of
early school leavers to below 10% by 2020
 Council Recommendation of 28 June 2011 on policies to
reduce ESL
 Highlights the need for comprehensive policies
(prevention, intervention and compensation)
 European Commission Thematic Working Group on
Early School Leaving (ESL) established Dec 2011
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TWG policy context and activities
 Activities include:
– Two Peer Learning Activities (Netherlands and France)
– Peer Review on policies to reduce ESL
– Mapping exercises (data collection, early warning systems, cost
of ESL)
– Report on comprehensive policies against ESL
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Early school leaving in Europe – scale of the
problem
 In 2012, 12.9% 18 to 24 years old had not completed
upper secondary education and no longer in education
and training
 Represents 5.5 million young people
 More young men than young women are ESL
 ESL major problem for disadvantaged minorities
 More pronounced in VET
 Wide disparities among European countries and regions
 Unemployment rate amongst early school leavers was
40.1% in 2012 - economic crisis is having diverging
impacts on ESL
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ESL rate 2012, Europe 2020 target and national
targets
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Early warning systems (EWS) in Europe –
mapping exercise
 EWS ‘broad term’, taking different forms - definition and
characteristics are tentative
 EWS collect and use data on students to identify risk
factors and trigger follow up
 Aim is to warn school staff of young people at risk
 EWS typically integral to mainstream school monitoring
and management systems
 A small number of countries have developed separate
systems, others have no such systems in place
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Variations in approach
EWS largely driven by national legislation but implementation tends to be
local
Austria:
Youth Coaching
programme (providing
advice and guidance to
young people identified as
being at risk
Croatia:
School informs partners
when young people miss
school. E-register- improve
communication between
schools and parents
Bulgaria:
Legislation stipulates
teachers monitor
attendance and inform
parents
Ireland:
Legislation requires
schools to report annually
to the National Education
Welfare Board
Sweden:
Legislation in place but
broader measures to help
teachers, parents and
students identify risks
Estonia, Lithuania,
Slovakia:
New legislation to collect
data on attendance
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EWS signals
Schools and teachers play an important role in recognising early signs of
disengagement
Poor attendance/truancy - different levels of absence trigger a
warning
Poor behaviour - often based on national regulations governing
school and/or school standards
Academic achievement / test results
Repetition of academic year - problematic and should be replaced
with additional support
Other - psycho-social problems, language barriers
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Other methods to identify youth at risk – country
examples
Collaboration
Austria: youth coaches work with young people
Hungary: Person employed with responsibility for child/youth welfare
Sweden: All school personnel obliged to report person identified at risk
Belgium: Teachers involved in mediation
Ireland: School Completion Programme to help young people in
disadvantaged areas
Research and data
UK England: Risk of NEET indicators
Student registration systems
Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania and Slovakia – systems assist in identification of
EWS through recording absences and academic achievement
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Responses to EWS
Responses should be accompanied by clear and timely support
Involve parents
Multi-disciplinary support
team
Individual action plans
Teacher involvement
• Poland, Belgium – parents informed
• Estonia – e-Kool system (system of sharing data between
school and parents)
• Lithuania – support extended to families
• Estonia – student assistance roundtables
• Belgium – broad intervention, mediation services
• Sweden – action programme set up to support young
people in need
• Teachers involved in reporting must be part of the solution
to ensure link between reporting and intervening
Some countries impose fines, sanctions and prosecution
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Impact of EWS
 Little evidence of the impact of EWS – evaluations are
rare, difficult to identify causality between trends
 Eurostat and national data show reductions in ESL – view
that EWS have contributed to reduction
 More resources and evaluation of approaches required
– How are EWS defined in different European countries?
– When schools or local authorities report absences – what is the outcome
of this activity?
– What is the data used for? Does it inform policy making? How accessible
is it to users?
– What distinguishes EWS from being a bureaucratic exercise from systems
that address EWS?
– How do countries determine different EWS?
– How is collaboration and partnerships working in practice?
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Key lessons, success factors and challenges
 Key lessons and success factors:
– Important role of teachers
– Importance of individual support and guidance for students
– Cooperation between schools, supporting systems, professionals
 Challenges:
– Budget cuts, ensuring legal responsibilities related to EWS are
implemented, need for user-friendly data systems, lack of training
on ESL, lack of coordination, establishing buy-in, unwillingness of
some schools
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Concluding remarks
 Clear definition of EWS
 A comprehensive list of EWS must be broader than
monitoring absenteeism alone (social, family related
issues)
 EWS should be evidenced based and operate through a
process of identification/assessment of signals –
intervening - monitoring
 EWS must be accompanied by clear and timely support
 EWS must be evaluated and monitored to ensure
efficiency and effectiveness within the context of the
school
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Thank you for your attention
[email protected]
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