Rudolf Tippelt
Drop-Out from the Education System
The present situation and strategies of prevention. An introduction
Clemens Hillenbrand/Heinrich Ricking
Early School-Leaving: Causes – Development
Prevention. Results of research carried out in the States and in Germany
Early school-leaving or drop-out play but a marginal role in the debates within German educational science. Yet, evidence clearly shows that the lack of a school-leaving certificate as well as the often connected absenteeism constitute essential risk factors regarding deviance, health problems, poverty, and unemployment. Referring to both the United States and the European Union, the authors sketch the terminology, present data on the prevalence of these phenomena, summarize empirical findings regarding relevant risk factors, and point out evidence-based strategies of prevention within the school context, in particular. This survey provides well-founded guidelines for a schoolbased prevention of early school-leaving.
Nora Gaupp/Boris Geier/Tilly Lex/Birgit Reißig
Paths to a Lack of Training
Determinants of failed transfer into vocational training among adolescents with a junior high school education
At present, an intense debate is led on which factors determine the failure or success of the transfer from school to workplace. Based on data provided by the Panel on Transfer of the German Youth Institute, the authors examine which factors cause the risk of unemployment to increase. The GYI-Panel describes the educational careers and vocational training paths of adolescents with a junior high school education over a period of about five years after the end of compulsory schooling. Through cluster analyses, five different types of transition from school to workplace were identified. One of these types refers to adolescents who, during that period of time, did not succeed in starting a vocational training. The contribution aims at answering the following questions: What are the socio-demographic characteristics of adolescents without training positions? Via which paths do the adolescents end up with this lack of training? What were the school-related starting conditions under which these adolescents entered the path to a lack of training? Which are the critical interfaces on their paths of transition?
Margrit Stamm/Jakob Kost/Peter Suter Melanie Holzinger-Neulinger/Netkey Safi/Holger Stroezel
Drop-Out CH – Early School-Leaving and Absenteeism in Switzerland
The author presents results of a representative Swiss study on drop-out and its association with absenteeism. The theoretical basis is formed by considerations and empirical findings which identify the continuity of the school career as an important drop-out predictor and which link this factor to more or less frequent absenteeism. On the basis of an empirical prediction model for early school leaving, results could be revealed which, on the one hand, substantiate traditional research on drop-out, but which also broaden or even partly contradict existing research. These results, in turn, form the basis for the final discussion on possible preventive approaches and future research projects.
Bernhard Schmidt
Drop-Out from Adult Education
In the field of adult education, the term drop-out is used in a rather broad sense, encompassing course interruption, cancellation of initially planned activities in further education, as well as non-participation of so far educationally rather active adults. Against this background, the data provided by the Adult Education Survey and the EdAge Study allow drawing some conclusions as to the reasons for dropping out from adult education. These findings are placed within a broader theoretical framework, which differentiates between the levels of the individual, the measure, and the framework conditions and thus points out the importance of a procedural analysis, in particular.
Ulrich Heublein/Andrä Wolter
Drop-Out from Higher Education in Germany
Definition, drop-out rate, causes, measures
The present article discusses the issue of drop-out from higher education, a topic which continues to be of importance in higher education policy. In the first part, the author provides a detailed analysis of the problem of defining and measuring drop-out from higher education. Drop-out from higher education constitutes a phenomenon which is often confused with other forms of fluctuation in the university sector. The author then goes on to give a survey of the development and structure of drop-out from higher education in Germany, based on recent research results provided by the HIS (Higher Education Information System). So far, the recently implemented study courses have not fulfilled the expectation that they would contribute to a reduction of the drop-out rate. Causes, conditions, and motives for terminating a course of studies form the focus of the next paragraph. It is shown that drop-out from higher education constitutes a complex event, in which individual, institutional, and social factors influencing the course of studies overlap. An outline of theoretical approaches to an explanation of the phenomenon, coming above all from the fields of psychology and sociology, combined with a short analysis of possible preventive strategies conclude the contribution.
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Stephan Schumann
Performance and Background Effects on the Entry into Higher Education in Switzerland
A comparison between graduates with an upper secondary school-leaving certificate and graduates with a vocational maturity diploma
Which role do performance and social background characteristics play on the path to upper secondary school maturity or towards vocational maturity and, later, with regard to the entry into higher education in Switzerland? On the basis of longitudinal data provided by the national PISA 2000/TREE study (N = 2.123), the author shows that – given a comparable reading competence – adolescents from the lower strata of society more often obtain vocational maturity instead of an upper secondary school-leaving certificate. Following maturity, those adolescents with a lower level of reading competence from both groups of graduates frequently stay away from higher education. It is also shown that – given a controlled reading competence – graduates from vocational schools with lower social background less often start studies in universities and universities of applied sciences.
Susanne Kuger/Katharina Kluczniok/Jutta Sechtig/Wilfried Smidt
Gender in Kindergarten – Empirical data on differences between girls and boys
The article is prompted by an assumption often (implicitly) posited in relevant literature, namely that a) gender-related differences in the everyday kindergarten experiences and behaviors of girls and boys exist and that b) these differences increase in the course of kindergarten attendance. On the basis of the longitudinal study BiKS-3-8 (a project which examines educational processes, competence development and selection decisions at pre- and primary school age by means of two panel studies), everyday experiences of girls and boys in kindergarten and everyday actions and attitudes of kindergarten teachers are examined as to the frequency and distinctiveness of gender-specific behavior among the key players. This analysis reveals that there are only a few differences in behavior between girls and boys, which do not always correspond to the traditional role stereotype and which grow even less pronounced in the course of kindergarten attendance. These differences are essentially due to the initiative of the children themselves; kindergarten teachers promote gender-specific behavior in a very limited way.
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