An evaluation of the Educational Priority Policy in relation to early school leaving.

1. Pergamon
Studies in Ed, cational Evaluation, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 209-230, 1997
© 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd
Printed in Great Britain. All rights rcserved
0191-491X/97 $17.00 + 0.00
S0191-491X(97)00014-X
AN EVALUATION OF THE EDUCATIONAL PRIORITY POLICY IN
RELATION TO EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING
Hetty Dekkers and Geert Driessen
University of Nijmegen, Institute for Applied Social Sciences
Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Introduction
In the Netherlands, just like in other EU countries and in the United States, early
school leaving is considered to be a major problem. Early school leaving has traditionally
largely been approached from the point of view of social inequality and social integration.
It has been known for some time that it is largely working-class children and immigrant
children that tend to drop out of school early. Since the early eighties there has been
somewhat of a shift in policy with regard to early school leavers, away from the problem of
social inequality towards the problem of labour market and qualification needs. This has
resulted in an entirely new definition of early school leaving, based on the concept of
basic qualification: the minimum qualification level which all students (and all people
looking for work and in work) should attain. These two perspectives have been
incorporated in all of the studies into early school leaving that were carried out within the
framework of the evaluation of the Dutch Educational Priority Policy (EPP). In this article
we will describe the results of the studies into early school leaving within the first five
years of secondary education.
Within the framework of the Educational Priority Policy research is regularly carried
out among more than 5000 students in secondary education; these students are part of the
cohort that was also monitored in primary education. Since 1993, attention has also been
paid to drop-outs within these secondary education studies and these drop-outs are now
also being monitored. A ftrst study focused on drop-outs during the first four years of
secondary education. It was noted that the problem was less serious than initially assumed,
in terms of both scale and the kind of situation the drop-outs tend to end up in (de Wit &
Dekkers, 1994). A follow-up study was recently carried out into the drop-out rates within
209

2. 210 Hetty Dekkers and Geert Driessen
the first five years of secondary education. Data on the scale of early school leaving,
broken down among other things according to ethnicity and gender, were combined with
data on the causes and background of early school leaving and situation after leaving
school. We will discuss a number of the most important results and conclusions. We will
subsequently present a definition of early school leaving, the theoretical background, the
research questions, the research set-up and analysis, some results and concluding remarks.
Definition of Early School Leaving
Many authors have pointed out that it is hard to define an early school leaver or
drop-out (Gaustad, 1991). In the United States a National Drop-out Statistics Review Task
Force was set up in 1993 to develop a plausible definition (Edirisooriya & Lawrence,
1995). Two main perspectives were distinguished: social inequality and educational
qualification. It is also possible however to define early school leaving in terms of what
employers see as acceptable minimal levels of education and training for young people
entering the labour market for the first time (Hannan, H6vels, van den Berg, & White,
1995). Drop-out rates vary greatly depending on how you look at them. Rumberger
(1987) states that noone knows what the high school drop-out rate in the United States
really is. There is no consensus definition of a high school drop-out. There is also no
standard method for working out the drop-out rate. Important methods are age-cohorts
and attrition data (e.g., starting high school and graduating after four years).
In the Netherlands, too, various definitions are currently being used for the concept
of early school leaving. The more traditional definition of an early school-leaver is: a
student who leaves the first stage of secondary education without qualifications. The most
important criterion here is therefore obtaining a qualification, i.e., a certificate.
A fairly recent definition links early school leaving with qualification levels. The
govemment requires that every individual is obliged (to make an effort) to get educated
up to the level of a basic vocational qualification. In this case, early school-leavers would
be young people leaving school without this basic qualification. A basic qualification is
equal to at least a vocational training course at exit level elementary apprenticeship
training or a short senior secondary vocational course, i.e., completing two years of senior
secondary vocational education, or obtaining a senior general secondary education or pre-
university education certificate. This definition of early school leaving therefore does not
cover students transferring to another form of further education without first having
obtained a general secondary education certificate. A student with such a certificate who
does not obtain any further qualifications would however be considered to be an early
school leaver.
This article includes figures on the various definitions, but priority has been given to
the current government definition. This means that the group of early school-leavers is
made up of young people who have left school without a qualification and of young
people who have left school after first obtaining a certificate of general secondary
education. It is therefore possible to speak in terms of early school-leavers with a
qualification and early-school leavers without a qualification. We could therefore also use

3. Early School Learning
the term drop-outs instead of early school-leavers.
211
Theoretical Background: Factors Associated with Early School Leaving
Early school leaving is a multi-faceted phenomenon. There are a lot of factors that
are correlated or in interaction correlated with early school leaving. It is not always easy to
distinguish causes and consequences. Furthermore there are as yet no fully adequate
models for predicting drop-out rates.
Several authors distinguish different categories of factors that are associated with
early school leaving. These categories usually include demographic factors, individual
factors, family background, peers, school-related factors and sometimes more macro-level
factors such as labour market (Coley, 1995; Gaustad, 1991; Rumberger, 1987; de Vries,
1993). Attempts to design comprehensive models to describe the factors and/or the proces-
ses that are responsible for early school leaving have up until now not been totally
satisfactory. In this section we will discuss the factors that were embodied in this research.
Individual Factors
Personal Factors
Rumberger (1987) in his review talks about high school drop-out rates, within the
same frame of reference as the one we presented above, i.e., that personal factors
associated with early school leaving are related to: a lower level of self-esteem, students
having less sense of control over their lives, poor attitudes towards school, low
educational and occupational aspirations and the wish to get married. Referring to the
analysis of NELS 1988 (National Educational Longitudinal Study) data with regard to
attitudes and expectations, Coley (1995) concludes that drop-outs tended to believe that
they did not have control over their lives, that chance and luck are important, and that
something always seemed to stop them from getting ahead. But, despite leaving school,
85 percent of the drop-outs were optimistic about attaining at least a high school
education.
Dutch research shows that early school leaving is also related to student ability.
The average scores of early school leavers on intelligence and performance tests tended to
be lower than those of the students who completed the course of training (Bosker &
Hofman, 1994; de Vries, 1993). The motivation of these students and these students'
experiences of school also appear to play a major role: future school leavers attach less
importance to school than those students who stay on at school, and they tend to have
lower aspirations when it comes to the educational and occupational level they can
achieve. This is expressed in their making less of an effort during the lessons and spending
a minimum amount of time on homework (Hofman, 1993; de Vries, 1993). Demographic
individual factors associated with early school leaving include ethnic and gender factors:
students from ethnic minorities and boys are more likely to drop out of school. Age is
another factor that can be of importance for early school leaving. A last crucial personal
factor is related to absence rates. Frequent absenteeism is often not only accompanied by

4. 212 Hetty Dekkers and Geert Driessen
early school leaving but also by poor achievement levels (Hofman 1993; de Vries, 1993).
Family Background
In the research literature the family (and also the social background more generally)
is considered to be the most important factor in explaining truancy and early school
leaving. The home situation of early school-leavers is characterised by large famifies, one-
parent families, unemployed fathers and material limitations. Gaustad (1991) sees socio-
economic status as the most important factor in this respect: Parents of drop-outs on
average have a lower level of education, have lower aspirations and future expectations in
relation to their child and are less involved in education than the parents of those students
who stay on. In the case of drop-outs there is in addition more often a discrepancy
between communication, upbringing and discipline in the home situation and the norms
and values of the school (de Vries, 1993).
Virtually all of the possible explanations mentioned above tend to apply, but even
more strongly, to immigrant families. In particular the discrepancy between home culture
and school culture can affect students' well-being at school. In addition language
problems, the degree of orientation on integration and, in particular for girls, traditional
career prospects, also tend to play a role (Dekkers, 1993; de Vries, 1993).
Peer Group
Friends of drop-outs are absent from school far more frequently than friends of
those who stay on at school (Rumberger, 1987). Early school-leavers associate more
frequently with friends from outside their own school (Hofman, 1993). There are signs that
playing truant with a fellow-student from the same school is more likely to bond students
to the school and that it is in particular playing truant in networks of friends from outside
the school that precedes early school leaving (Hrvels & Bock, 1991). Hofman (1993)
among others, notes that there is a connection between early school leaving and the peer
group's multi-ethnic composition and using a language other than Dutch. These peer
group characteristics can however be directly traced back to the high percentage of drop-
outs among immigrant students.
School-related Factors
School-related factors are important to expose because many of them can be
manipulated through practice and policy. Several authors have pointed out that poor
academic achievement and behavioral problems in school, including absenteeism, truancy
and the kind of discipline problems mentioned earlier under personal factors, play a role in
early school leaving. Little attention has however been paid to the role played by the
actual schools themselves: how they are organised, their leadership and teachers. Appa-
rently there are major differences between schools in these respects, even after correction
for the socio-economic status of their students. Wu (1992) reports that early school
leaving has tended to have been considered more as an individual problem instead of in
terms of distribution: the concentration of students leaving schools reflects the impact of
contextual and organizational factors. When exploring NELS 88 data he found that the
size of a particular school's drop-out rate appeared to be indicative of the quality of the

5. Early School Learning 213
school's academic programme and operation. Note that this is associational rather than
causal evidence.
It is not clear exactly which specific factors contribute to this phenomenon. We
know that there are fewer drop-outs at schools where students are given additional
counselling (which may or may not take place on an individual basis and inside or outside
the regular timetable). In addition, the school climate tends to play an important role:
students are less likely to drop out of schools with a "warm" school climate, at which fewer
sanctions are applied as a result of the misconduct of students, at which there are fewer
conflicts (which may or may not be fuelled by ethnic differences) and at which
educational achievements are positively rewarded (de Vries, 1993). Finally there are signs
that increased teacher-student interaction, which includes asking questions and giving
feedback, leads to fewer drop-outs (Hofman, 1993).
Combined Factors
Push-pull
Several authors define a combination of the above factors as push-and-pull factors
responsible for early school leaving. Jordan, Lara, and McPartland (1994) see dropping out
of school as a cumulative process arising out of a series of events and experiences which
impact on youth into their transition into adolescence. Jordan et al. mention push factors
as factors located within the school itself (internal) and pull factors as compelling external
factors like family, neighbourhood, peer groups, community organisation, job, etc. Other
authors define the push and pull mechanism slightly differently, more in relation to the
student. In the case of push factors de Vries (1993) distinguishes three sub-groups of
students: students who leave school as a result of a lack of ability, disappointing
achievement levels and a failed school career; students who reject school out of boredom
and irritation; and (immigrant) students who leave school as a result of cultural or social
isolation and/or discrimination. Pull factors may include non-school related factors like the
labour market which may particularly affect lower and unschooled segments (H6vels &
Bock, 1991). Starting a family or parental economic support can also be regarded as pull
factors.
The NELS data contain a list of 21 reasons for leaving school. School-related
reasons for quitting school (push) were cited more frequently by early drop-outs than any
other category, including family-related, job-related, safety, friendship influences, mobility
and suspension/expulsion. The school-related items were: not liking school, not liking
teachers, feelings of not belonging in school and failing at school. Male drop-outs more
frequently cited job-related reasons for leaving school than females. On the other hand,
female drop-outs more frequently cited family-related reasons such as pregnancy,
parenthood, or caring for a family member than male drop-outs (Jordan et al., 1994).
Models
Almost a decade ago Rumberger (1987) pointed out that a more comprehensive,
causal model was needed, which "should successfully identify the full range of proximal
and distal influences, the inter-relationships among them, and their long-term, cumulative

6. 214 Hetty Dekkers and Geert Driessen
effect" (1987, p. 111). According to him the following points should be given attention in
this: underlying processes (among other things, school process: dropping out as a process
of disengagement from school, perhaps for either social or academic reasons), inter-
relatedness among the various factors (to separate actual causes from correlates), long-
term, cumulative effects of the various influences (family background, early school
achievement), different types of drop-outs (there is no "typical" drop-out).
Finn (1989) provides two models for understanding early school leaving as a
developmental process. According to the classical frustration-self-esteem model, poor
school performance leads to impaired self-esteem which, in turn, leads to problem
behaviour. The participation-identification model focuses on students' "involvement in
school". Participation in school activities is seen as essential for positive outcomes,
including the students' sense of belonging and valuing school-related goals.
This theoretical work has not really been elaborated experimentally. We must
conclude that no valid, comprehensive explanatory model exists as yet for describing and
analyzing early school leaving. Only very general pictures have been presented up to
now, representing the different categories of related factors as mentioned above.
Further Career
Little is known about the further careers of early school-leavers. What did the
student do after leaving school, how does he or she feel about having left school and how
does he or she see his/her future? Different authors wonder whether early school leaving is
not regarded too negatively and whether the importance of qualifications is not being
over-estimated. Jordan et al. (1994) analyzed the future educational plans of early school
leavers. The overwhelming majority of drop-outs still planned to obtain a high school
qualification at some point in the future, but they had simply selected a different route to
meet this objective, and the routes differed depending on race/ethnicity and gender.
Chuang (1997) concluded that a number of students re-enroll in any sort of education,
especially the younger ones with higher test results in secondary school. Hansen,
Fisherkeller, and Johnson (1995) remark that "... we tend to see failure in causal terms
('because of statements), and success in terms of individual agency ('in order to'
statements)" (p. 83). They argue in favour of considering individual intentionality and
concerned engagement among drop-outs. They also warn against some between-group
comparisons while claiming that within-group comparisons could lead to greater
understanding.
Other authors emphasize the negative effects of early school leaving. Rumberger
(1987) claims that drop-outs often suffer because they experience difficulty finding steady,
well-paying jobs not just when they first leave school but throughout their entire lives.
Coley (1995), summarized by Schwartz (1995), says roughly the same thing: With respect
to lifetime wages, the gap between drop-outs and more educated adults is widening
steadily as opportunities expand for higher skilled workers and disappear for the less
skilled.
In relation to the further career of early school leavers, the help and counselling
provided to the drop-outs during and immediately after leaving school is of special

7. Early School Learning 215
relevance. Who supports them in this? Who gives them advice on possible schooling and
work? The literature provides few leads in relation to this aspect.
Research Questions
The theoretical framework, combined with the data already available from the
research project which was set up to evaluate the Educational Priority Policy in primary
and secondary education, makes it necessary to divide the research questions up into
quantitative and qualitative ones.
There are a lot of indicators available on the students and the early-school leavers
involved in our study, that represent the variables discussed above. As we have already
pointed out, the students belong to a cohort from the national evaluation of the
Educational Priority Policy: students who are being monitored in secondary education
every year and have been monitored since the highest grade of primary education in the
school year 1988/1989. Within the framework of the Educational Priority Policy the target
groups were awarded weighting factors (EPP-weighting factors), which meant that
schools were granted additional financial support for the fact that they had a socio-
ethnically disadvantaged student population. The most important target groups are Dutch
working class children, who were awarded a weighting factor of 1.25 and immigrant
working class children who were awarded a weighting factor of 1.90. Students who do
not fit into the target groups count as 1.00 (cf. Driessen & Dekkers, 1997). The relevant
database contains personal background information as well as school career
characteristics. In addition to being able to accurately establish the drop-out rate within a
year group with the aid of this national sample of 5,000 students, it is therefore also
possible to relate this to (a combination of) factors of background information.
This leads to the first quantitative research question:
Question 1: How often do students drop-out within the first five years of secondary
education? And what are the drop-out percentages broken down according to a number
of student, family and school(career) characteristics (gender, country of origin, EPP-
weighting factor, educational level of the parents, school type, drop-out year,
recommendation for secondary education at the end of primary education)?
After establishing the drop-out percentages for various categories of students, it is
also possible to take early school-leavers as a point of departure and to describe the
composition of this group, both in relation to a number of personal and family
characteristics and in relation to a number of specific school career characteristics.
Question 2: What does the group of drop-outs look like? What kind of students are
involved and what kind of school careers have they had?
And how does this group differ from the group of students who did not drop out of
school?
The statistical analysis within the quantitative part of the study still only yields a

8. 216 Hetty Dekkers and Geert Driessen
fairly superficial picture of the backgrounds and (a number of) causes of early school
leaving. In the second, qualitative, part of the study, we took a closer look at these
backgrounds and causes. Over the past ten years a great deal has been published on this
topic. There is, however, a striking lack of research into how early school-leavers perceive
things themselves, and into the actual situation the drop-outs end up in after leaving
school. In the literature the early school-leaver is generally described as someone who
completely failed in his/her education and left school because of all kinds of negative
circumstances. Early school leaving is seen as a negative, passive and undesirable option,
though the early school leavers themselves are hardly heard on the matter. Early school
leaving could also be seen as an active move on the part of the student to improve his or
her own situation which he or she considers to be a negative one. Trying to attend a
different kind of (part-time) education or going in search of a job are in themselves no
reason to consider the student in question a failure.
In the qualitative part of the study the drop-out him/herself gets a chance to talk
about the immediate causes for leaving school and about the aspects that played a role in
this. This qualitative part of the research provides greater insight into the (complexity of
the) processes that underlie school leaving. It furthermore suggests possible differences in
the background of various categories of students. In view of the small numbers we cannot
assume that these data are fully representative. Roughly speaking the qualitative study is
based on the following research questions:
Question 3: What do the early school-leavers themselves see as the main reasons for
having left school?
Question 4: What kind of specific backgrounds in their personal, family and school
situation are of significance in explaining their early school leaving?
Question 5: What does the further career of the early school-leavers look like?
Question 6: What kind of future plans and expectations do they have? And what kind of
wishes do they have with respect to work and schooling?
An additional question (Question 7) allowed us to compare the results for students
who dropped out within the first four years of secondary education with those for
students who dropped out one year later.
Research Set-up, Analysis and Representativeness
Overall Design
The first measurement of the longitudinal studies in primary education within the
framework of the national EPP-evaluation took place during the 1988-89 school year. In
these cohort studies the total sample is made up of two parts: a reference sample and a
supplementary sample. The reference sample comprises a random selection of 3.5% of all

9. Early School Learning 217
Dutch primary schools. This sample however contains too few schools that are of
significance for the EPP-evaluation. It contains hardly any schools with a lot of immigrant
children and/or Dutch working class children, the two most important target groups of the
EPP. It is for this reason that the reference sample was supplemented with schools with an
over-representation of those students. Of all the students that were tested in grade 8 (age
12) in 1988-89 about half were selected for the school careers study in secondary
education. The total number of selected students amounted to more than 5,000, which
included more than 1,500 immigrant children (cf. Mulder, 1991). In this school careers
study a careful record was kept of whether students stayed at the same school, moved to a
new school or left school either voluntarily or out of necessity (e.g., as a result of sickness
or emigration). The secondary education schools were asked to provide information about
the educational position of the students every year. Reports for the first five years in
secondary education have so far been completed (Suhre, de Wit, & Mulder, 1995).
The school-leavers study came about as a result of the EPP-school careers study.
The school-leavers study specifically looks at the group of school-leavers from the cohort.
The first school-leavers study was carded out at the end of the fourth year of secondary
education (de Wit & Dekkers, 1994). In the following year a follow-up study was carried
out into the new school-leavers. The total group comprises all of the students from the
original EPP-cohort who left secondary education between the first school year (1989-90)
and April of the fifth school year. For the benefit of the school-leavers study we contacted
every student by telephone to establish whether or not s/he was in fact an early school-
leaver. The set-up of the two school-leaver studies is virtually the same. The studies are
made up of a quantitative and a qualitative part each. We will take a brief look at both
parts of the studies.
Methods, Techniques and Analyses
We opted for a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. In
our choice of these methods we were primarily guided by the research questions. The
advantage of this methodological triangulation is the increased reliability and validity of
the research results (cf. Teunissen, 1988; Weeda, 1986).
Quantitative Part of the Study
In the quantitative part of the study we tried to establish the size of the group of
early school-leavers. Questionnaires were sent to the schools in order to collect data on
the educational situation of the students in the cohort. This was done as a part of the
school careers study. If students no longer appeared to be attending school, the
information was obtained by contacting the students at home. In order to establish the
scale of early school leaving simple statistical analyses were carried out on the databases
of the school career and school-leavers study. With the aid of similar descriptive
techniques (frequencies, cross tabulations and analyses of variance) emerges a picture of
the composition of the group of early school-leavers on the basis of the characteristics
available from the longitudinal database and of how this differs from the one of the
students who stayed on at school.

10. 218 Hetty Dekkers and Geert Driessen
Qualitative Part of the Study
In the qualitative part of the study we took a closer look at the backgrounds and
causes of early school leaving (research questions 3 to 6). This information was collected
in two different ways: by means of a postal and telephone survey and also by means of in-
depth interviews.
Postal and telephone survey
All of the early school-leavers were contacted at home and were invited to
complete a questionnaire. In this questionnaire the respondents were asked about their
reasons for dropping out, their current situation and their plans for the future. The
structured questionnaire contained largely closed but also open-ended questions. The
surveys were carried out in November and December 1994. Because a relatively large
number of students could not be contacted by telephone (not listed, disconnected, wrong
number, or not on the telephone), they were sent a written version of the questionnaire.
When compiling this written version, the telephone questionnaire was transferred as
accurately as possible, where possible the same items were used. Pilot interviews were
carried out with both questionnaires prior to the study. The results of the interviews are
presented through largely descriptive analysis techniques.
In-depth interviews
In-depth interviews were carried out among the young people that were willing to
cooperate. They were, among other things, asked further questions on the topics that were
raised in the telephone/postal survey. The interviews were carried out at the student's
home and took about an hour. In a number of cases one or both of the parents of the
school-leaver were present. This might have been disadvantageous in a number of cases, in
particular when topics were being discussed such as behaviour at school, family problems
or involvement in criminal activities. In our opinion this did not have too much of a
negative influence, however; after a brief period of acclimatization the (former) students
generally spoke freely on all of the topics of conversation. Furthermore the fact that the
parents were there also had a number of advantages; it allowed the researcher to get a
better insight into the domestic situation and into family relationships and to obtain more
information on certain topics. The respondent was furthermore occasionally given some
emotional support by the parent when topics of a sensitive nature were raised. We used
standardised interviews, which were based on a list of topics. This meant that although the
researcher had to cover these topics, s/he was free to decide as to how s/he would present
the questions and in which order. The topics had been generated from a literature search
into topical, relevant publications on early school-leaving.
Response and Representativeness
The EPP-school careers study shows an annual increase in the number of students
that do not respond. Thanks to very intensive data collection this non-response rate has
nevertheless been kept to a minimum. In the fifth year of secondary education the non-

11. Early School Learning 219
response rate compared with the first measurement amounted to 13%. In addition to
permanent non-respondents there are also temporary non-respondents, i.e., students that
were initially lost, but were later tracked down at another school. There is an over-
representation of immigrant students in the non-response group. Non-response analyses
show that this does not have any major consequences for the representativeness of the
sample (Suhre, et al., 1995).
In the first school-leavers study (de Wit & Dekkers, 1994) 298 students appeared to
have left regular education during the first four years, or appeared to be "lost without a
trace" after an initial search. After further information had been collected as part of the
school-leavers study, about 200 of these could be regarded as real drop-outs (the others
had emigrated, re-entered education, and so on). In the fifth year another group of
students left education or transferred to further or vocational education without a
qualification. The school-leavers study tried to track down as many as possible of these
371 students and approach them personally in order to establish their current educational
or labour market situation.
The school-leavers study comprises three elements (quantitative analyses, telephone
and postal survey, in-depth interviews), the latter involving a sub-group of 120 students
from the total group (571). Every part of the study involved a group of participants and a
group of non-participants, or non-respondents. In order to establish whether or not the
non-response rate gave rise to biased results, we carried out a non-response analysis in
which we looked at whether the non-response rate was selective and to what extent the
response group could be considered to be representative. We will briefly discuss the
response data and the outcomes of the non-response analyses for each part of the study.
The non-response in the quantitative analysis of the study is slightly selective. We
were unable to obtain enough information on several of the 1.90-students, in particular
some of the Moroccan students, to establish whether or not they had really left every
possible form of education. Even though this group was small, we will nevertheless take
this into consideration.
The above findings also apply to the response to and representativeness of the
telephone and postal survey. There appeared to be no significant differences in the
responses to the oral interviews. We would like to make a few comments here, however.
We only compared the response group with the non-response group on a limited number
of superficial characteristics. It is possible and even probable that the response group is
nevertheless a rather specific group when it comes to other relevant characteristics.
Students living under more extreme conditions (in prison, in an institution, homeless, Child
Welfare Council) are, for example, not represented in the response group to quite the same
extent. We therefore have to be rather cautious as regards the representativeness of the
results of the surveys and interviews.
Results
The Scale of Early School Leaving
Approximately 4.7% of the total student population appears to have left school within the
first 5 years of secondary education. Of this 4.7%, 2.9% left school without a qualification

12. 220 Hetty Dekkers and Geert Driessen
and 1.8% left school with a qualification. When comparing these data with the data on the
previous year a considerable increase in the percentages (roughly doubled) is revealed.
SEX
boys
girls
EPP-WEIGHT
1.00
1.25
1.90
EDUCATION PARENTS
primary education
junior sec. voc. ed.
sec. ed. lower phase
senior sec. voc. ed.
sec. ed. higher phase
higher professional ed
university
ETHNIC BACKGROUND
The Netherlands
Surinam
Turkey
Morocco
Remaining
Dutch boys
Dutch girls
Immigrant boys
Immigrant girls
Surin, boys
Surin. gids
Turkish boys
Turkish girls
Moroc. boys
Moroc. girls
Remaining boys
Remaining girls
DROP-OUT YEAR
1st
2rid
3rd
4th
51h
SCHOOLTYPE
ind.junior gen.sec.ed.
pro-vocational ed.
junior gem sec. ed.
senior gem sec. ed.
pre-universJty ed
5,3
'19'2 12
T
8.3
3,7
I~ 2.t:
[] 1,3
BIB 1,91
0,5 .
.,2 6.6'
r:z
i 5.9 '
8,6
•18,8
0.1 .
931
BRill, 9.6
061~,~. .
0 5 10
25
16.1'
15 20 25 30
BIIdrop-out without idrop-out with
certificate certificate
Figure 1: Early School Leaving Within the First 5 Years of Secondary Education, Broken Down
According to Background and School Career Characteristics (percentages)

13. Early School Learning 221
This is partly due to the fact that compulsory education has at this point come to an
end for many of the students. Figure 1 shows the scale of early school leaving, broken
down according to a number of background and school characteristics. The figure shows
the overall percentage and makes a distinction between those leaving school with a
qualification and those leaving school without one. The drop-out percentage for boys is
slightly higher than the drop-out percentage for girls. It is in particular the drop-out rate
for those leaving school without a qualification that is slightly higher among boys, the
drop-out rate for those leaving school with a qualification is the same for girls and boys.
When the data are broken down according to EPP-weighting it emerges that the 1.90 and
1.25 students more frequently dropped out of school than the 1.00 students. Furthermore
it shows that most of the 1.90 early school-leavers left school without a qualification. The
drop-out rate for the 1.25 students also comprises a relatively large number of students
with a qualification. From the break-down according to level of education of the parents a
strong social background inequality becomes evident. The drop-out rate is much higher
among those with the lowest level of education. In particular in the lowest educational
category - parents with at the very most primary education - the drop-out rate is
particularly high (12%). From the break-down according to country-of-origin the
relatively poor position of immigrant students once again becomes apparent. In all four of
the country of origin groups the drop-out rate is considerably higher than it is among the
Dutch students. The most negative results are obtained for the Moroccan students: more
than 16 percent has left secondary education. From the further break-down according to
gender it appears that the drop-out rate among immigrant boys is slightly higher than it is
among girls. Only among the Surinam students the drop-out rate for the girls is slightly
higher than it is for the boys (although we have to be very careful as to how we interpret
this in view of the small numbers). The drop-out rate for immigrant boys in addition far
more frequently includes students who left school without a qualification then the drop-
out rates for immigrant girls. Among the Turkish, Moroccan and Surinam boys (virtually)
the entire drop-out rate is made up of students who left school without a qualification.
Among the girls from these groups there are also some students with a qualification who
dropped out of further education. The categories with the highest drop-out rate are the
Moroccan boys (19%) and girls (13%). Though various studies have suggested a higher
drop-out rate particularly among Turkish and Moroccan girls during the first stage of
secondary education, our results modify this picture: far more immigrant boys dropped out
of secondary education. It does appear however that the migration figures and the drop-
out rate at the transfer from primary to secondary education is higher among the Turkish
and Moroccan girls than it is among the Turkish and Moroccan boys.
From the break-down according to drop-out year it appears that the drop-out
percentage increases every year. In the sixth year an even bigger increase can be
expected. We may conclude that there is a very unequal distribution of early school-
leavers in the lowest school types. The lower the school type the higher the drop-out
percentages. Individualised pre-vocational education does worst here, with a drop-out
percentage of 25%. One should take into account that this includes school-leavers with a
qualification as well as school-leavers without a qualification and that in contrast to
students in other school types, students in individualised pre-vocational education have

14. 222 Hetty Dekkers and Geert Driessen
no possibility to move down to another school type. Pre-vocational education, too, has a
much higher drop-out percentage than the higher school types.
In addition to calculating the percentage of early school-leavers we also calculated
the overall percentage of unqualified secondary school leavers, and in this case we also
included those who went on to further education. The differences according to gender,
EPP-weighting factor, social background and ethnicity appeared to be considerably
greater in this case than they were in the case of the percentages of early school-leavers.
Six percent of the boys, as opposed to 3% of the girls, left secondary education without a
qualification. Broken-down according to EPP-weighting factor this involves 2% of the
1.00-students, as opposed to 6% of the 1.25-students and no less than 13% of the 1.90-
students. This percentage is once again highest among the Moroccan students: 23%, as
opposed to 4 percent of the Dutch, 6% of the "other origin" students, and 10% of the
Surinam and Turkish students. In all ethnic groups the percentages for the boys are
considerably higher than those for the girls, generally approximately twice as high. The
percentages of school-leavers without a qualification are highest in individualised pre-
vocational education (19%) and pre-vocational education (8%).
Composition of the Group of Early School Leavers
So far we looked at the percentage of school-leavers per student category (drop-
out rate according to characteristic), but the composition per characteristic of the group of
school-leavers, and in particular the composition in comparison with the non-school
leavers group are also informative.
Within the first five years of secondary education, 4.7% of the students left school.
Of this group some 61% left without any qualifications and 39% left with a qualification.
At the time they left school about half of these drop-outs were aged 17 or younger and
therefore still fully or partly of statutory school age. In Figure 2 we present an overview of
the composition of the group of drop-outs on a number of background and school career
characteristics. The composition of the group of students who stayed on at school has
been added for comparison.
We selected a number of relevant differences. More than 75% of the drop-outs
belong to the EPP-target groups (18% 1.90 students and 59% 1.25 students). Not
included in Figure 2 is the finding that there is a strong under-representation of 1.00 and
1.90 students (24 and 4%) compared with 1.25-students (72%) among the school-leavers
with a qualification. On the other hand there is also an under-representation of 1.00-
students (23%), but a strong over-representation of 1.90 students (28%) among the
school-leavers without a qualification. From the distribution according to the educational
level of the parents it appears that the low educational levels are strongly over-represented
in the group of early school-leavers. Two-thirds of the drop-outs for example come from
families in which the parents at the very most completed junior secondary vocational
education. For the group of students who stayed on at school this proportion amounts to
some 30%. The group of school-leavers without a qualification is made up of more young
people from families with the lowest educational level and from families with the higher
educational levels. The group of drop-outs is made up of a relatively large number of

15. Early School Learning 223
immigrant students. Almost a quarter of the drop-outs comes from an immigrant
background, and almost half of them is of Turkish or Moroccan origin. Moroccan students
in particular are strongly over-represented.
SEX
boys
girls
EDUCATION PARENTS
primary education
junior sec. voc. ed.
SeC. eO. bowerphase
senior sec. voc, ed.
sec. ed. higher phase
higher professional ed
university
ETHNIC BACKGROUND
The Netherlands
Surinam
Turkey
Morocco
Remaining
Dutch boys
Dutch girls
Surin, boys
Surin. girls
Turkish boys
Turkish girls
Moroc, boys
Moroc. girls
Remaining boys
Remaining girls
SCHOOLTYPE 1st YEAR
ind,lunior gan.sec.ed,
pre-vocafional ed.
junior gen. sec. ed.
senior gan. sec. ad.
pre-university ed.
remaimng
100 80
Drop-outs
so
40
• 13BB
SZ
14: BIB
lZ BII
:21
,7 •
1
76 : ~
44 m
32 m
;2
i 12
~2
12
%4
13
~5
14
15 •
~.7
e •
i i ,41
_ i i
60 40 20
Non-
Drop-outs
~ 5o
~ so
"
3116
"3 sl
3 ; 17
3 7'.
• 4 ~ 2,
i; 2| 2
10 m~s
~ 42:
1 .
1
1 .
1 .
1 '
1 '
41
4~
3 '
~ 20.
~ 24
~ 21"
I 1
20 40 60 80 100
Figure 2: Composition of the Group of Early School-Leavers and the Group of Students who Stayed
on at School According to Background and School Career Characteristics (Percentages)

16. 224 Hetty Dekkers and Geert Driessen
Thirteen percent of the group of drop-outs is made up of immigrant boys, 11% of immigrant
girls. Turkish and Moroccan girls, whose drop-out rate has a very negative reputation,
only form a relatively small part of this group of early school-leavers: some 5%. Immigrant
boys are strongly over-represented within the group of school-leavers leaving school
without a qualification (22 versus 11%), whereas they are under-represented within the
group of school-leavers leaving school with a qualification (4 versus 8%).
Some 88% of the drop-outs started secondary school at individualised pre-
vocational education, continued primary education or junior general secondary education
level. The individualised pre-vocational education level is particularly strongly over-
represented here. Twelve percent of the drop-outs started in the first year of senior general
secondary education or pre-university education. Many transferred to lower school types;
in the end some 7% of the students dropped out during the final year of senior general
secondary education or pre-university education.
The Process of Leaving School
In the surveys and in-depth interviews the drop-outs were asked to talk about the
immediate cause for leaving school and about aspects that played a role in this. These
aspects are related to their personal cognitive and social qualities, their family background,
their circle of friends and the school they attended.
Early school leaving is the result of a complex of motives, aspirations and histories.
As far as the motives are concerned two categories of factors are often distinguished, as
we saw earlier: push and pull-factors. Push-factors are experiences in education that
make students leave school, such as disappointing results, poor relationships with teachers
and boredom. Pull-factors are non-school related factors, for example the labour market
or family obligations.
From the surveys and in-depth interviews it appears that early school-leavers have
a wide variety of reasons for leaving school. Furthermore, most students have several
reasons for leaving school. What is the most frequent reason given by early school-leavers
for leaving school? We observe an important distinction between the young people of
statutory school age who drop out during the first four years of secondary education, the
so-called very early school leavers, the school-leavers leaving school without a
qualification in the fifth year of secondary education (still partly or fully of statutory
school age), and the school-leavers leaving school with a qualification (still partly or fully
of statutory school age).
The very early school-leavers largely mention push-factors as the most important
reasons for leaving school; these include problems with the teachers and no longer being
motivated to learn. Very early school-leavers also often report behavioral problems at
school. The fifth year school-leavers without a qualification also most frequently mention
push-factors (54% push-factors, 12% push and pull, 34% pull-factors) as reasons for
leaving school. But they considerably less frequently refer to behavioral problems as a
reason. Those leaving school without a qualification often find it hard to explain their most
important reason for dropping out. They generally tend to mention a number of push-

17. Early School Learning 225
factors, which largely influence each other. Having to repeat a year or getting a negative
examination result is often the immediate reason for leaving school. This is on the whole
caused by several things: de-motivation, lack of effort, poor performance, behavioral
problems, lack of ability, etc.
In contrast to those leaving school without a qualification those leaving school
with a qualification tend to refer to pull-factors as the most important reason for not going
on to further education (55% pull, 11% push and pull, 34% push). The desire to start
work in particular tends to be at the root of this. This desire is often nevertheless linked
with having enough of learning and school, or not having been able to choose a suitable
follow-up course. They have after all got some kind of qualification (of secondary
education); for many the step to work appears to be a fairly logical one as a result.
Girls and boys mention push and pull factors as reasons for leaving school just
about as frequently. Having enough of school/education is however more frequently
given as a reason by girls. Those who gave lack of motivation as the main reason often
said that they greatly disliked studying or school.
Immigrantearly school-leavers differ from indigenous early school-leavers in the
sense that they more often give push-factors as the most important reasons for leaving
school. This however appears to be largely related to the fact that immigrant early school-
leavers more often leave school without any qualifications. After correction for this only a
few differences remain between immigrant and indigenous early school-leavers. Among
the immigrant drop-outs special attention has been paid to the effect of the push-factor
"cultural/social isolation and/or discrimination". According to these drop-outs this factor is
of limited significance. Discrimination was said to be involved in only one case.
Only part of the early school-leavers sees lack of ability as a reason for dropping
out of school; an even smaller part acknowledges it as the most important cause. This
contradicts the findings in the quantitative analyses which show that drop-outs have had
more problematic school careers than non drop-outs.
Many drop-outs make a distinction in their opinion on education between certain
training courses or subjects. They consider training courses and subjects of a theoretical
nature to be of little use, in contrast to practical training courses. The parents of most of the
early school-leavers have a low level of education and drop-outs, also according to
themselves, appear more often to find themselves in a difficult home situation. Friends
generally only play a secondary role in school leaving (8%). It is striking that among
immigrant students, friends considerably more often appear to affect their decision to leave
school (26%).
The Situation After Having Left School
The large majority (some 90%) of those who dropped out during the first five years
of secondary education has been in paid employment since leaving school and/or attended
a different form of schooling. This applies for those who left school with a qualification as
well as for those who left school without a qualification. Most of them were not inactive
over a period of time longer than the customary holidays. The large majority of the young
people feels happy with the situation and does not regret leaving school. The fact that

18. 226 Hetty Dekkers and Geert Driessen
they are happy presumably has something to do with the relief they feel after the difficult
period of early school leaving (which in particular applies for those who left without a
qualification). A small minority finds themselves in extremely difficult circumstances, they
are, for example, in prison, homeless or receiving psychiatric treatment (less than 10% of
the drop-outs during the first four years of secondary education).
Generally, therefore, the picture is of a motivated group that wants to start work
and, to a lesser degree, also wants to continue to receive some kind of education. In the
somewhat longer term a slightly larger number of drop-outs appears to end up in a
situation that is a little less favourable. The number of these drop-outs that are in work or
receiving some form of education then appears to drop somewhat and the number of
youngsters in extremely difficult circumstances appears to rise slightly. Furthermore it
appears from the research that the jobs found by the drop-outs largely tend to be of a
temporary nature, with little prospect of a permanent job. There is therefore cause for
concern for the long-term work perspectives.
Discussion
"Basic qualifications for all" was the motto first introduced in Dutch educational
policy in 1990. However, after five years of secondary education some 4.7% of the
students appear to have dropped out of school without a basic qualification (the drop-out
rate for primary education and immediately after primary education should in fact be added
to this). It is expected that this percentage will show a sharp increase in the two
subsequent years. Part of the drop-outs would still be able to obtain the educational
qualification pursued by the policy in the future. A considerable part of the young people
is in fact still interested in education in the future. About one-third of the drop-outs
appears really no longer to be prepared to attend education and is exclusively focused on
the labour market. Many drop-outs will therefore not obtain a basic qualification within
the education system in the future. This underlines the need for a discussion about the
extent to which qualifications (can be) obtained via practical work experience, and to
what extent such qualifications need to be linked to the idea of the basic qualification. Up
until now solutions have largely related to the range and the feasibility of the basic
qualification definition in adjustments within the education system; one example is the
(plans relating to the) introduction of an assistant level in the apprenticeship system and
the employment oriented programme in continued primary education. The present study
indicates however that part of the drop-outs is no longer able, or no longer wants, to
participate in the education system; getting qualifications by means of work experience
therefore appears to be the only remaining alternative for this last group.
From the research results it becomes clear that there is not one single type of early
school-leaver. This is also expressed in our research reports in the form of a "typology" of
drop-outs. The large majority of the early school-leavers - in particular those who left
without a qualification - left school largely as a result of factors related to the school
(push-factors), such as behavioral, motivational and, to a lesser extent, ability problems.
The others - largely the qualified ones - left school mainly because they wanted to start

19. Early School Learning 227
work or start earning money (pull-factor). From this it appears that school factors and
student characteristics are significant for early school leaving. Many drop-outs make a
distinction in their opinion on education between certain training courses or subjects.
Training courses and subjects of a theoretical nature are considered to be of little value,
compared with practical training courses.
There is a great deal of social class inequality involved in early school leaving.
Young people from families in which the parents have a low to very low educational level
are very much over-represented. This does not however mean that there are no school-
leavers from the higher social classes; for 8% of the drop-outs for example one of the
parents has completed higher professional education or university education.
There is also a strong ethnic inequality factor: the drop-out rate for immigrant
students is almost twice as high as that for indigenous students. Moroccan youths stand
out negatively. If we look at the percentage of students leaving continued primary
education/general secondary education without a qualification than this is almost three
times as high for immigrant students than it is for indigenous students. Immigrant school-
leavers are strongly over-represented among the drop-outs that left school without a
qualification, whereas they are under-represented among the drop-outs that left school
with a qualification.
We furthermore noted unfavourable labour participation among the immigrant
school-leavers and a higher degree of dissatisfaction about leaving school. AU of these are
reasons for paying more attention to this group, in particular for making efforts to help
them obtain a qualification and/or get a job.
Boys tend to drop out of school slightly more frequently than girls, in particular
during the first four years. This appears to be related to personality types. Among boys
behavioral problems play an important role in school leaving. Among girls problems are
largely motivational. Male school-leavers in general appear to be very outwardly focused,
not obedient enough, too impatient, perhaps also too playful to be able to adjust to the
regime of a regular education. This at a later stage expresses itself in a dislike for the school
system itself and in an orientation which is far more focused on social themes than on
education. Girls' attitudes, on the other hand, appear to equip them better for meeting the
conditions necessary to attend school. When they drop out it is often because of a low
aspirational level. It was striking to notice in the research that parents considerably more
frequently agree to girls leaving school than to boys leaving school. This in particular
applies in the case of school leaving with a qualification. In the drop-out rates for boys
leaving school without a qualification, behavioral problems tend to play a major role as
well as difficulties with theoretical subjects. They still want to receive education, but only
in a different form. For girls this largely involves general motivational problems; they are
not so keen on school any more. Educational measures such as the employment-oriented
programme and training courses at assistant level will - starting out from an unchanged
statutory school age - therefore mainly attract boys and could lead to increased gender
inequality.
Referring to the earlier described theoretical background we can summarize the results
of this study as follows: personal factors do play a role, especially those of motivation and
lack of ability. For the very young drop-outs behavioral problems were also a reason for

20. 228 HettyDekkersandGeertDriessen
leaving school early. Those with a qualification opted to start work rather than take part in
further (vocational) education. They were positively motivated not to continue their
school education. Parental background does indeed appear to be a very important factor.
Children who drop out of school before being adequately qualified often have parents
with a low level of education and often belong to ethnic minority groups. Gender makes a
difference, too, in a quantitative sense, when it comes to reasons for leaving school.
The peer group appears to be only of secondary importance but tends to be more
important among immigrant children. As far as school factors influencing early school
leaving are concerned, this research shows that the kind of courses offered should be
appropriate for students who belong to at-risk groups (i.e., they should be more
practically oriented).
In most cases early school leaving is due to a combination of factors. We clearly
found push and pull combinations. As far as "model thinking" is concerned, this research
only provides an initial step by looking at different factors within one research design. The
fact that the data were partly quantitative and partly qualitative makes it impossible to test
a model that includes all of the apparently important factors. The findings of this research
will nevertheless make it possible to conduct future research in which such a model can be
tested.
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22. 230 HettyDekkersandGeertDriessen
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The Authors
I-IEITY DEKKERS is a coordinator of educational research and associated with the
Institute of Applied Social Sciences and the Department of Educational Research of the
University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Major research subjects are school careers of
different (societal) groups, e.g., by ethnicity, social-economic status and gender, as well as
educational policy in relation to these issues.
GEERT DRIESSEN is an educational researcher at the Institute for Applied Social
Sciences (ITS) of the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. His major research interests
are the position of immigrant children in education, inequality in education, educational
careers, first and second language acquisition and minority language and culture teaching.