Thematic Area 1

Identification of students at risk

Florence 14th June 2013Marco Manzuoli

Identification of students at risk: main questions

• 1.Which are the risks and consequences of school dropout among students.

• 2.Whether the teachers and educational system are aware of them• 3.The school dropout among students also affects the teachers • 4.How to find in different countries confronted with the same problem

concerning school dropout and its prevention, the right ways to involve all the educational partners : school, family, community.

Identification of students at risk

• The factors that lead people to feed, and the risk dispersion are varied.

• Useful materials available for the study are narration and analysis of case studies, interviews with managers and teachers, families, decision-makers and institutional actors.

• In the background we can not forget the national data, regional available: a first difficulty is to have consistent data on the dispersion phenomenon.

• The European context: strategies and objectives from Lisbon to Bologna.

Identification of risk : a possible path

How can we identify a student at risk of leaving school? We can divide causes of early school leaving into four categories:• Educational factors, personal factors, familiar and social

causes.• In real situations it’s difficult to identify only one of these

factors, and we can rarely find one of them as prevalent. • A timely intervention give us possibilities to solve the

problem and to reach a positive end of training and scholastic paths.

Educational factors: a quality teachingThe teacher who sees his/her students dropping out without being able to help them feels powerless and questions the quality of his/her teaching. It can be demotivating and create a feeling of “ill-being” in the teacher. The student’s and the teacher’s self-confidence, motivation, and “well-being” are closely related. Teaching as stimule to motivations and e curiosity , in order to not «bore» the students. We need to :• Choose active learning and focus the learning path on student• Create and consolidate in each school a steady workgroup • Give teachers training occasions and keep them update

Educational factors : learning styles and climate at school

• To my mind, a human intellectual competence must entail a set of skills of problem solving — enabling the individual to resolve genuine problems or difficulties that he or she encounters and, when appropriate, to create an effective product — and must also entail the potential for finding or creating problems — and thereby laying the groundwork for the acquisition of new knowledge. Howard Gardner

• New curricular demands, with their emphasis on competence and performance, prompt us to investigate the role that learning strategies can realistically play in the learning/teaching process, both from a cognitive and from an affective-motivational point of view. Learners should not just be "trained" to use strategies - rather, students and teachers should engage in a mutual effort to negotiate their

own specific contribution to learning tasks. (Luciano Mariani, learningpaths.org)

Educational factors :communication

The different actors’ upstream interventions need to be coordinated to be efficient. Meetings between the various professionals should be promoted (to better know each other, to define who can do what, to know who you can send someone to, to share field experiences) • Communication between schools or school networks, especially in the

transition from one order to another.• Constant and frequent communication with family• Clear communication about training especially during the reception phase• Career and course choice guidance ensure the school to be offering the best

possible guidance on course selection and career planning: this is part of the best practices information and it is very important to have a good selection of information to ensure that every student can choose his/her best option to keep on studying.

Personal factors: «Not One Less»Under the heading Personal factors we understand all situations that may vary from student to student.• Truancy• Behavior in the classroom• Relationships with adults and with peer groups• Acts against school rules and bullying• Low self esteem• Assign less weight to the commitment to the possibility of

school work and therefore of autonomy

Social factors: family and his influence

One of the most dangerous aspects in school early leaving is the attitude of some of the parents who don’t see the need for education or simply aren’t able to manage, and fail to ensure their children attend school every day. So we need to consider :• Social origin of families and lack of knowledge and / or consideration of

the school• Special needs or family circumstances• Immigration and difficulties related to the area of origin and destination• Cases of conflict with the school authorities in the face of children's

difficulties

Social factors and communitiesEarly school leaving is linked to the social environment and family background of the student. So the teacher must consider:• the importance of the socio-economic background of the

student's family• Border line on the social behavior and criminal liability in the

context of degradation• Work culture that does not assign great importance to the

professional qualification• National policymaking and territorial• As the leakage problem is dealt with by the media and literature

After identification of student at risk : good practices

For a timely identification of student at risk, we need to fix and share good practices:• Orientation :it would be interesting to add testimonials

from young dropouts who wonder why go on with their studies, as well as testimonials from parents or teachers confronted with this problem.

• meetings with operators, training agencies, institutional resources to have a full picture of the possible paths

• Work on learning styles for the recovery of motivation• Propose customized forms of teaching• Activate forms of continuus monitoring

After identification of student at risk : good practices

Good practices can not only involve the actors of the school, but must be shared with all those interested in the topic of the dispersion :• Maximum and continuous involvement of the family in the

stages of every difficult path • alternative learning opportunities outside school time• Peer education and mentoring• Continuous training of teachers (training and self-training)

Conclusions : focused issues

The school link with the pupils’ families is essential to provide quality education of future citizens. To form a positive perception of school, students need to see it as a friend that offers:• appropriate climate for learning;• a close relationship between student-teacher;• learning vary according to each student’s intellectual possibilities;• qualified teachers for all subjects;• adapting the content taught in the psychoindividual particularities of

each student;• family involvement in school activities.

Thanks for your attention