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"By OECD standards, the share of the Australian labour force with at least a secondary school qualification is low. One way to rectify this shortfall is to improve rates of re-engagement in education among early school leavers. This paper examines the patterns of re-engagement among early school leavers in the HILDA sample. A key finding is that the early years after leaving school are crucially important, with rates of re-engagement dropping dramatically in the first three years out from school. For those who enter the labour market after school, results suggest that finding work, especially satisfying work, is an important driver for returning to study

The 2001 master file of the Aboriginal Peoples Survey is used to analyze the determinants of leaving school before completing high school for Aboriginal persons, separately for different age cohorts and for those living off-reserve and on-reserve. Relationships that are particularly important from a policy perspective include the fact that rates of leaving school early are negatively related to being able to attend high school in one's community, learning about Aboriginal history and/or about Aboriginal peoples, and having an Aboriginal teacher or teacher's aide. Decomposition analysis of leaving school early by residential status indicated that most of the higher dropout rate for those living on-reserve is attributed to observable characteristics, many of which are subject to a degree of policy control such as through improved employment opportunities and a culturally sensitive curriculum and learning environment.

Despite a vast literature on the causes and consequences of leaving school prematurely, little scholarly and policy attention has been paid to those who re-enter education after a temporary withdrawal. Re-enrolment is often portrayed in the literature as an active act of agency requiring inner drive. Based on 18 interviews with young early school leavers and re-enrolees in Norway, we construct two empirically founded re-enrolment narratives: 'opposing otherness through dreams of ordinariness' and 'accepting the rules of the game—re-enrolment as a fragile opportunity'. Although embracing and reproducing the discourse about educational credentials as being the key to a happy life, the narratives do not support the idea of a re-enrolment drive as being vital to succeed within educational institutions. While they aspire for normality and believe normality is achieved through educational credentials, they are in need of a support system that either accommodates their individual needs, or nudges them back 'on right track'.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare steps taken in the United States and Ireland to prevent students leaving school without sufficient qualifications. The study focuses on the context and attitudes towards educational disadvantage in the two countries and the subsequent policies. The Bridging the Gap (BTG) project supported by University College Cork highlights an exemplar case study through which educational leaders in both countries have opportunities to learn from each other. Both educational systems face two endemic questions: 1) How to make the best use of educational research bridging policy and practice? 2) How to incorporate the voice of disadvantaged youth in the decision-making systems that impact their lives? The US system can learn from the Irish in the use of the arts in schools as a motivational tool for and of the use of ICT with disadvantaged populations. Recommendations for Irish schools include investigation of the US model of full service community schools, to work with other offices within Irish government whose policies have implications for educational practice and to base evaluation of school level outcomes on a more rigorous methodological model.

The article investigates the employment conditions of young early school leavers in Italy in the aftermath of the economic crisis, a period which was marked by a process of occupational downgrading. The empirical analyses rely on the 2005 and 2014 waves of the ISFOL-PLUS survey and show that the employment opportunities of youth who dropped out of school have substantially deteriorated over time, both in absolute terms and compared to those who attained an upper-secondary level certificate. The article discusses possible determinants of this negative trend: on the one hand, the increased negative selection of the group of early school leavers; on the other hand, the process of "crowding out" of workers with intermediate qualification levels from well-matching jobs. The results also show considerable gender differences and in particular the existence of a multiplicative disadvantage for female early school leavers, especially in Southern Italy.

In this study I explore a lack of cohesion between two Alberta government policy documents that are intended to address the problem of early school leaving of disenfranchised urban Aboriginal youth. The research explores the question of whether this lack of cohesion is reflected in educational practice for this population of learners. This issue is further examined through exploration of an inner-city high school that is designed to meet the needs of a disenfranchised urban population generally while meeting the specific educational needs of Aboriginal students who constitute most of its student population. The need for this analysis is given context by the relatively few disenfranchised urban Aboriginal youth who complete high school in Alberta. Although this study focuses on an Alberta inner-city school, the low completion rates for this population are in evidence throughout Canada and elsewhere across the globe.

L'Unione Europea definisce Early Leaving from Education and Training il fenomeno dell'abbandono dell'istruzione scolastica o della formazione professionale senza il completamento degli studi secondari superiori e senza il rilascio del certificato scolastico corrispondente (ISCED 3). L'acronimo ELET si aggiunge all'altro, forse più celebre, NEET, ovvero young people Neither in Employment nor in Education and Training che indica la fascia di giovani adulti (tra i 18 e i 24 anni) che non sono occupati in attività di studio, formazione o nel lavoro. L'abbandono precoce degli studi e della formazione è un elemento di forte criticità per le conseguenze che genera sulle vite dei singoli che affrontano da una posizione di estrema debolezza e precarietà il mercato del lavoro, la partecipazione alla società civile (OCSE, 2012), l'accesso alle risorse e alle informazioni. Per queste ragioni, la riduzione del tasso degli Early School Leavers (ESL) al di sotto del 10% è uno degli obiettivi della strategia Europa 2020, che invita gli stati membri ad implementare politiche nazionali tese al ridurre gli ESL. Il contrasto all'abbandono scolastico e formativo degli ESL costituisce, dunque, una sfida complessa perché legata a un fenomeno multidimensionale che coinvolge l'Europa e concerne direttamente il nostro paese a causa delle sue ricadute sul piano culturale, sociale, politico ed economico oltre che per l'impatto sui più giovani. Infatti, gli ESL sono spesso ragazzi/e che hanno difficoltà economiche e di apprendimento, vivono situazioni di svantaggio sociale e hanno problemi legati alle famiglie o alla cultura di origine. Essi/e trovano ostacoli nel momento della transizione tra livelli scolastici o formativi diversi e fanno fatica ad inserirsi ed interagire nel setting scolastico "tradizionale". La fascia di età compresa tra i 15 e i 18 anni, è sicuramente quella più critica e riguarda quegli adolescenti che non hanno assolto l'obbligo scolastico e/o l'obbligo formativo ed abbandonano il sistema di istruzione scolastica o della formazione professionale con un titolo di studio di secondaria inferiore (livello ISCED2). Obiettivo di questo contributo è quello di offrire un quadro il fenomeno degli ESL nel nostro paese, al fine di stimarne entità e problematicità; in seguito, verrà esaminata la specifica situazione della regione Veneto e presentato il progetto "Fuori Scuola" nelle sue finalità e nei suoi aspetti pedagogico-didattici. Nel far ciò, si rifletterà pure sulle modalità pedagogiche e di accompagnamento educativo più adatte per aiutare gli ESL nel pervenire a forme di successo formativo, nel supportare lo sviluppo di concrete prospettive personali e lavorative.

This article provides an account and discussion of research processes used in a contemporary study of early school leaving in Ontario, Canada. The Ontario Early School Leavers Study was conducted in conversation with 193 young people who left school prior to graduating, their educators and parents. The study was informed by a review of international literatures which point to the need for innovative social approaches and youth-attuned methodologies in the study of early school leaving. We present our research processes as informed by this literature and then present new analyses that illustrate critical social processes in early school leaving. The findings present unique data to show three pathways to early leaving and a constellation of risk and protective situations encountered by these young people along the way. Risk situations included the daily social workings of poverty, low socioeconomic status, the need to take on early adult roles, "place", academic and social disengagement, negative relations with families and/or school personnel, and inflexible or unsupportive school structures. Protective situations were encountered in supportive families; from parents and teachers; in schools that were caring, flexible, and proactive; and in processes of self determination. The perspectives of the young people are discussed in relation to the international literature and the perspectives of 71 parents and educators who participated in the study. Impacts on practices in secondary schools suggest that early school leaving be recognized and treated as a heterogeneous, complex social process occurring at and across the nexus of families, schools, youth cultures and communities.

Concern with youth unemployment has been replaced with a focus on those not in education, in employment, or in training (NEET). With current levels of youth unemployment low, this emphasis helps remind us that an increase in employment levels is not necessarily accompanied by a reduction in vulnerability. While NEET can be used as a concept for representing problematic transitions, it is an ill-considered concept that places an undue and often misleading emphasis on voluntarism. Drawing on the Scottish School Leavers Survey, the article explores the policy implications of different definitions of NEET, highlights its prevalence, and examines the characteristics of those who are NEET. It is argued that to represent vulnerable youth effectively we must either use a set of definitions that are narrower than that represented by NEET, or adopt a much broader definition that provides a basis for more far-reaching interventions.