Burned out to drop out: Exploring the relationship between school burnout and school dropout

This paper examines the development of school burnout among Finnish youth aged 16–18, specifically with regard to the following three components: a cynical attitude toward the school, feelings of inadequacy as a student, and exhaustion at school. There is evidence of an increase in all three components over time, but only among students on the academic track. There appear to be differences in burnout levels between those who drop out from school and those who do not, and the risk of an individual with high levels of cynicism or feelings of inadequacy dropping out is clearly higher than among those who score low on these two components. When various explanatory variables are controlled for, cynicism still remains a significant factor explaining drop out, and a low grade point average appears to be a major explanatory variable for school dropout. This study is especially interesting in the context of Finland, known for its equality-striving and high-quality educational system. Finnish youth, compared with youth in many other countries, nevertheless have a low level of in-school well-being. We use the Finnish Educational Transitions data (N?=?878) collected in four waves, the first three on an annual basis and the fourth 5 years after the first one.     

Adaptation in the transition to school: perspectives of parents,preschool and primary school teachers

Background: Transition to school is a highly demanding phase at an intellectual, social and emotional level and is, therefore, an opportunity for growth and development. Despite the greater emphasis given to school transition in Portugal over recent years, namely by means of new educational policies, studies on the adaptation processes involved in the transition to primary school are still scarce.

Purpose: The present qualitative study sets out to contribute to the knowledge on the adaptation process of children to school transition (around age 6) in Portugal, by comparing preschool teachers’, primary school teachers’, and parents’ perceptions about success indicators and relevant factors in the transition to school.

Design and method: In order to collect data, 14 focus group interviews with different participants were conducted, three with preschool teachers (N = 18), three with primary school teachers (N = 13), four with parents conducted before the child’s transition to primary school (N = 14) and four with parents conducted after the child’s transition to primary school (N = 20).

Results: While the preschool and primary school teachers stressed factors of a family nature, such as parental involvement and parental support of children, the parents referred more frequently to the overall running of the school and the characteristics and methodology of the teacher as being relevant to the adaptation process in the first year of primary education.

Conclusions: The findings suggest different factors associated with adaptation to school and also offer clues for designing strategies to facilitate such adaptation. New strategies are needed to facilitate the construction of a robust educational family–school partnership.     

High school employment,school performance,and college entry

The proportion of U.S. high school students working during the school year ranges from 23% in the freshman year to 75% in the senior year. This study estimates how cumulative work histories during the high school years affect probability of dropout, high school academic performance, and the probability of attending college. Variations in individual date of birth and in state truancy laws along with the strength of local demand for low-skill labor are used as instruments for endogenous work hours during the high school career. Working more hours during the academic year does not affect high school academic performance. However, increased high school work intensity raises the likelihood of completing high school but lowers the probability of going to college. These results are similar for boys and girls, and so working during high school does not explain the widening gap in college entry between men and women.     

Who drops out from primary schools in China? Evidence from minority-concentrated rural areas

One of the Millennium Development Goals is to ensure universal access to primary education by 2015. However, primary school dropout remains a challenge in many developing countries. While official statistics in China report aggregated primary school dropout of only 0.2 %, almost no independent, survey-based studies have sought to verify these dropout rates in rural areas. The primary objective of our study is to document the dropout rate in primary schools in rural China and compare the dropout rate of ethnic minorities and Han students. Using a first-hand dataset of 14,761 primary students in northwest China, we demonstrate that the annual dropout rate in poor rural areas is 2.5 %, suggesting a cumulative dropout of 8.2 %. Importantly, Hui and Salar minority students drop out at rates that are significantly higher than the official rates. Most noteworthy, 23 % of Hui girls and 22 % of Salar girls are dropping out by the end of grade 6. Our findings call for more attention to China’s primary school dropout issue—especially in minority areas. Policymakers should begin to examine new ways to increase the chances for minority students to succeed in the educational system.     

Does intensive coaching reduce school dropout? Evidence from a randomized experiment

School dropout is an important social and economic problem. This paper investigates the effect of an intensive coaching program aimed at reducing school dropout rates among students aged 16–20. Students received support and guidance with their study activities, personal problems and internships in firms. The coaching program lasted one or two years. Students were randomly assigned to the coaching program. We find that one year of coaching reduced school dropout rates by more than 40% from 17 to 10 percentage points. The second year of coaching further reduced school dropout by 1 percentage point. The program is most effective for students with a high ex-ante probability of dropping out, such as students no longer obliged to be in formal education, male students, and students not living with both parents. Cost-benefit analysis suggests that one year of coaching is likely to yield a net social gain.     

Health,lifestyle, family and school factors in adolescence: predicting adult educational level

Background

Education fundamentally shapes an individual's life chances and social status. Duration and level of education are associated with people's incomes, socio-economic status, living standard, lifestyle and the respect and esteem they enjoy. Failure to fulfil educational potential may have long-term consequences for later occupational and social life, as well as creating problems for society at large.

Purpose

The aim of this prospective follow-up study was to investigate which health, lifestyle, family and school factors in adolescence had the strongest impact on educational level attained in adulthood.

Sample

The original study population included all 9th-grade school pupils aged 16 years attending secondary school in spring 1983 in Tampere, Finland (n = 2269). Subjects were followed up at 32 years of age in 1999 (n = 1471).

Design and methods

In 1983, 2194 pupils (96.7%) with a mean age of 15.9 years (SD 0.3 years) completed questionnaires during school hours. The questionnaire included questions about psychological and somatic health, lifestyle, family background, school factors and life events. In 1999, postal questionnaires were sent to the same study population when they were 32 years old. The follow-up questionnaire included basically the same questions about health and lifestyle as in adolescence and age-appropriate versions of questions about social relations and life events. Education was measured by the highest level of attained education. The follow-up cohort totalled 2091 persons (92%), and the response rate was 70.3% (n = 1471). The univariate associations between independent variables in adolescence and attained educational level in adulthood were analysed using the χ² test, and Student's t-test where appropriate. Multivariate logistic regression analyses using forward stepwise procedure were used to determine which factors in adolescence had the strongest impact on adult educational level.

Results

Several health, lifestyle, family and school factors in adolescence were univariately associated with educational attainment in adulthood. Multivariate analyses showed that, in both genders, low school achievement and manual class of origin were the strongest predictors of low educational level in adulthood. Additional significant predictors among females were poor perceived health status, spending less leisure-time on hobbies and more on dating, and among males, poor relationships with teachers and heavy drinking.

Conclusions

Mid-adolescence is an important period for future educational life trajectory. Based on our study results, more attention should be paid to adolescents with school difficulties, unhealthy lifestyle and poor perceived health. It is also important to promote educational equality in relation to family background.     

One foot out the school door? Interpreting the risk for dropout upon the transition to post-secondary vocational education

Many students drop out in the first year after a school transition. Most commonly used indicators of an increased risk for dropout reveal little of the mechanisms that push or pull students out of school. In this study, we look at the association of a set of common risk indicators with students’ supportive resources and school experiences upon the transition to post-secondary vocational education in the Netherlands. Multilevel regression analyses on a diverse sample of 1438 students indicate that most sociodemographic risk indicators relate to less access to supportive resources for school, whereas personal circumstances outside school that are associated with an increased risk for dropout correlate with negative school experiences. Students from lower educated or poor families and students who use drugs, have debts, or are delinquent score negative in both domains, suggesting that those students make the transition with one foot out the school door.     

Disentangling the predictive validity of high school grades for academic success in university

To refine selective admission models, we investigate which measure of prior achievement has the best predictive validity for academic success in university. We compare the predictive validity of three core high school subjects to the predictive validity of high school grade point average (GPA) for academic achievement in a liberal arts university programme. Predictive validity is compared between the Dutch pre-university (VWO) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. Moreover, we study how final GPA is predicted by prior achievement after students complete their first year. Path models were separately run for VWO (n = 314) and IB (n = 113) graduates. For VWO graduates, high school GPA explained more variance than core subject grades in first-year GPA and final GPA. For IB graduates, we found the opposite. Subsequent path models showed that after students’ completion of the first year, final GPA is best predicted by a combination of first-year GPA and high school GPA. Based on our small-scale results, we cautiously challenge the use of high school GPA as the norm for measuring prior achievement. Which measure of prior achievement best predicts academic success in university may depend on the diploma students enter with.     

Effects of support on stress and burnout in school principals

Background: More than ever before, school principals are dealing with stress and burnout, resulting from increasing role demands and decreasing decision latitude and autonomy. Following the Demand–Support–Constraints model, reasons for stress and burnout can be found in the lack of social support in the environment.

Purpose: This longitudinal study investigates whether changes in social support from colleagues, supervisors and/or the broader community affect levels of principal stress and burnout.

Sample: Approximately 26% of Australia’s school principals took part (N = 3572): primary (n = 2660) and secondary (n = 912) spread across all Australian states and territories. Age ranged between 46 and 55 years, and mean leadership experience was 12 years.

Design and methods: Since stress and burnout are psychological phenomena that develop over time, a longitudinal approach was adopted. Data were collected across four waves, spread over four years, from 2011 to 2014.

Results: It was found that social support predicts decreased stress and in turn burnout in school principals, however differences were found according to the type of social support. The data provide strong evidence for a positive effect of stress on burnout (e.g. the more stress at time 2, the more burnout in principals at time 3) and partial support for indirect negative effects of social support on burnout (e.g. the more support from colleagues at time 2, the less burnout in principals at time 3). However, we also found two instances of positive effects of social support from the broader community on burnout. This suggests that the more support principals receive from the broader community, the more likely they are to show burnout symptoms. This might be explained as the ‘the downside of empathy’, where principals who are strongly supported by their community might also feel more connected to that community. When their community is struggling, they are probably struggling as well.

Conclusions: The findings highlight the positive impact the wider school community can play in providing supplementary professional support to the principal. Unbundling or repackaging the job responsibilities with an administrative team that shares the leadership of the school, could be part of the solution.     

Early school dropout: configurations and determinants

This longitudinal study examined behavioral, cognitive, and demographic factors associated with early school dropout. Follow-up assessments were completed on a sample of girls (n = 248) and boys (n = 227) who had first been seen when they were in the seventh grade. School status was determined for all living subjects; 99% of them were interviewed individually in the fifth annual test wave. Overall, 14% of the group had dropped out of school prior to completing grade 11. The clusters of males and females most vulnerable to early school dropout were characterized in grade 7 by high levels of aggressiveness and low levels of academic performance (82% early dropout in males; 47% early dropout in females). In seventh grade, subjects who subsequently dropped out tended to affiliate with persons who were also at risk for dropout. Socioeconomic status, race, and early parenthood were also associated with school dropout. The primary outcomes were supported by convergent variable-oriented and person-oriented analyses. Some developmental dynamics of the phenomena are discussed.     

Promoting Gypsy children's behavioural engagement and school success: Evidence from a four‐wave longitudinal study

Low schooling, high non‐attendance and school dropout rates are critical phenomena within disadvantaged groups, especially among the Gypsy community. For example, in the UK, 10%–25% of Gypsy children do not attend school regularly and have significantly higher levels of overall absence from school (percentage of half‐day sessions missed) than pupils from other ethnic groups. In Portugal, available data on Gypsy children is sparse, yet data from one geographic region of the country reports high school failure (45%) and dropout rates (15%) among this population. The present study assessed the efficacy of a four‐year intervention to promote Gypsy children's behavioural engagement and school success. Gypsy communities were contacted and 30 children participating in the four waves were randomly distributed into control and experimental groups. Every school day throughout four years, 16 children in the experimental group were called at home and invited to go to school. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated in four waves (at the end of each of the four school years), assessing behavioural engagement (i.e. school non‐attendance, classroom behaviour) and school achievement (i.e. mathematics achievement, student progression). Findings show the efficacy of the intervention on promoting behaviour engagement and academic success without devaluing Gypsy people's culture.     

School education and development of gender perspectives and sexuality in Japan

This study aimed to evaluate changes in the attitudes of Japan’s post-war youth towards gender equality and sexuality, and to examine whether these attitudes bore a relationship to school education. Different generations were delineated based on changes in courses of study and year of birth, and semi-structured interviews were conducted enquiring about experiences and opinions during secondary school days. We examined sexuality education in both junior high school (ages 12–15 years) and high school (15–18 years), views on premarital sex, views on marriage and divorce, and views on gender roles. Fifty-three survey participants were involved in the study: 30 women and 23 men. The characteristics of each generation were examined in relation to corresponding courses of study and the textbooks available in junior high and high schools, identifying both homologies and differences between the messages courses contained and the expressed beliefs of different generations of informants.     

Consequences of school grading systems on adolescent health: evidence from a Swedish school reform

ABSTRACT

Education reforms that entail increased emphasis on high-stakes testing, assessment and grading have spread across education systems in recent decades. Critics have argued that these policies could have consequences for stress, identity, self-esteem and the overall health of pupils. However, these potentially negative consequences have rarely been investigated in a systematic and rigorous way. In this study we use a major education reform in Sweden, which introduced grades and increased the use of testing for pupils in the 6^th and 7^th school year (aged 12 to 13 years), to study the consequences of grading and assessment for health outcomes. Using data from the Health Behaviours of School-Aged Children Survey, we find that the reform increased school-related stress and reduced the academic self-esteem of pupils in the 7^th school year. This, in turn, had an indirect effect on psychosomatic symptoms and life satisfaction for these pupils. Moreover, the negative effects of the reform were generally stronger for girls, thereby widening the already troubling gender differences in health. We conclude that accountability reforms aimed at increased use of testing, assessment and grading can potentially have negative side effects on pupils’ health.     

Gender differences in associations between exposure to school HIV education and protective sexual behaviors and sexually transmitted disease/HIV diagnosis among high school students

This study aimed to assess associations between school HIV education and protective sexual behaviors and sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV diagnosis with a representative sample of male and female high school students. Data from male and female adolescent participants in the 1999, 2001 and 2003 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey (n = 12,243) were analyzed. Adjusted regression analyses stratified by gender were conducted to assess relationships between school HIV education exposure and the following outcomes: no sexual initiation, condom use at last sex, no multiple sex partners in the past three months and no history of STD/HIV diagnosis. Participants were mostly White (75%) and were 51% male; the subsample of sexually active students was younger than the total sample but was otherwise similar in demographics. School HIV education was reported by 93% of our sample and was significantly related to sexual initiation among boys (odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval = 1.4–2.7) but not girls. Among sexually experienced students (n = 4752), boys reporting exposure to school HIV education were significantly more likely to report condom use (odds ratio = 2.2, 95% confidence interval = 1.6–3.1), no multiple sex partners (odds ratio = 3.2, 95% confidence interval = 2.3–4.4) and no STD/HIV diagnosis (odds ratio = 3.2, 95% confidence interval = 2.0–5.0); girls reporting such exposure were significantly more likely to report no multiple sex partners (odds ratio = 2.2, 95% confidence interval = 1.3–3.6). In conclusion, exposure to school HIV education is associated with sexual protective behaviors and reduced likelihood of STD/HIV diagnosis for boys but less so for girls, suggesting the need for more gender‐tailored approaches to school HIV education.     

Patterns and Factors of High School Dropout Risks of Racial and Linguistic Groups

This study examined the dropout trajectories of racial and linguistic minority students and explored the effects of students' contextual factors on their high school dropout risks. Our motivation was to identify the dropout patterns of Black, Hispanic, and Hispanic English language learner (ELL) students, who have comparatively high dropout rates, and to suggest ways to promote high school completion. We employed a survival analysis using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The results showed that the 3 minority groups displayed significantly higher dropout risks than the White group. The overall pattern of dropout risks increased over time, with the dropout rates of the Black students high in the 1st and 2nd years of high school and the highest dropout rates for Hispanic ELL students in their senior year. A gender difference was found among the students, with male students having higher dropout risks than female students. It was also found that students' positive relationships with their teachers were associated with lower dropout risks.     

A contingency management day program for adolescents excluded from public school

This contingency management adolescent school program integrated vocational training with academic instruction. The students, who were unserved by public education because of emotional handicaps, were afforded an individual treatment program by the staff of the day program. They demonstrated significant gains in educational skills and exhibited an exceedingly low dropout rate, inasmuch as 95% either continued in the program beyond their first year or reentered public school.     

Revisiting primary school dropout in rural Cambodia

Previous studies on school dropout in Cambodia often used data from subjects after they already dropped out or statistics from education-related institutions. Using data from children in two rural provinces before they dropped out, this study examines four main factors in order to identify their influence on primary school dropout in Cambodia. Results from logistic regression analysis revealed that some predictors on individual, family, and school factors were found to be statistically significant to predict the odds of dropout in both grades 1 and 5, whereas poverty and child labor could not be detected, though they have been frequently cited as major predictors in the literature of school dropout in Cambodia as well as developing countries.     

Self‐efficacy,goal orientation,and fear of failure as predictors of school engagement in high school students

Lack of school engagement among adolescents in this country remains a problem that can have very serious consequences including increased risk for school dropout, substance use, teenage pregnancy, and criminal activity. Clearly, identification of psychological variables (self‐variables) of individuals that facilitate or hinder adolescents' levels of school engagement would contribute greatly to the understanding of how to increase adolescents' psychological well‐being and their achievement motivation and associated school engagement. The present study examined the degree of association of three specific self‐variables (self‐efficacy, goal orientation, and fear of failure) with school engagement for high school students. The results and implications for intervention and future research are addressed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 417–427, 2003.     

Typology of students at risk of dropping out of school: Description by personal, family and school factors

The purpose of this study was to identify the different subgroups of students at risk of dropping out of school. The typology was developed based on the three main contexts associated with school dropout risk, namely, the personal, family and school contexts. On the basis of these factors, the clustering results enabled us to categorize at-risk students into four subgroups: (1) the Anti-Social Covert behavior type, (2) the Uninterested in school type, (3) the School and Social Adjustment Difficulties type, and (4) the Depressive type. Moreover, considering all the contexts involved in school dropout, the clustering technique confirms the importance of behavior problems and learning difficulties, while emphasizing the significance of both depression and the family and classroom environments in the development of dropout risk. Students at risk of dropping out of school report many family organisational problems and that they obtain little emotional support from their parents. They also perceive little order or organisation in the classroom.     

Effective schools,school segregation,and the link with school achievement

This study examines whether 3 teacher-rated aspects of school effectiveness differ across school segregation profiles in Stockholm, and to what extent these indicators are associated with the academic achievement of 9th-grade students. Analyses were based on 2 cross-sectional data collections performed in 2014 and 2016, respectively (147 school units), one among teachers (n = 2,024) and the other among 9th-grade students (n = 9,151). Multilevel analysis was applied, estimating 2-level random intercept linear regression models. Results show that teachers’ ratings of school leadership, teacher cooperation, and school ethos, as well as student-reported marks differ across school segregation profiles. Findings further reveal significant associations between these school effectiveness indicators and student performance, even when taking student family background and the school’s student body composition into consideration. In part, these associations are also identified within segregation profiles. Moreover, results show that school ethos acts as a mediator between school segregation profile and student achievement.