Significant efforts have been made to assess, understand and address the phenomenon of early leaving from education and training at EU level in the past years. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the specific role of Vocational education and training (VET) in this context across the EU. That is why Cedefop launched in 2014 a three-year research project to analyse the “Role of VET in reducing early leaving from education and training”, and organises the present expert workshop to discuss the preliminary findings of the first year of work.
The main objectives of the workshop are:
- Assessing the size of early leaving from VET– what is it know about the phenomenon and what is still unknown;
- Identifying specific factors associated with early leaving from VET;
- Examining how data can be used to support decisions on preventive and remedial policies and practices to address early leaving in VET, and what data is needed to make such decisions;
- Discussing VET focused measures to prevent and/or address early leaving.
The event is addressed to:
- National policy makers in charge of specific measures focusing on early leaving from VET;
- Experts in charge of national statistics or datasets on early leaving from education and training;
- Practitioners working with learners at risk of dropping out from education and training;
- International experts working in this field.
Thematic focus
The seminar will be divided into three main sessions:
Session 1 |
| The size of the phenomenon of early leaving from VET |
|
| This session will focus on the size of early leaving from VET. The existing EU data on early leaving does not enable to unpick the different realities of the phenomenon. Some people are considered early leavers because they did not start any upper-secondary programme. Others because they dropped out early from upper secondary programmes or completed programmes which do not lead to an upper-secondary school leaving examination. To be able to design targeted interventions, it is important to understand where early leavers come from. This session will present the results of Cedefop statistical analysis of early leaving from VET based on the Adult Education Survey and PIAAC data, and confront these results with national data in selected countries. |
|
|
|
Session 2 |
| The factors associated with early leaving from VET and policy responses |
|
| Some reasons for early leaving are well researched and analysed. Numerous studies have proved the relationship between academic failure, class repetition, complicated transitions as well as negative school and/or work climate or in-class relationships with likelihood of dropping out. However, there are some factors that are likely to be specific to VET and which are less well researched. This session will focus on the specific features of VET and the labour market to examine why young people drop out from VET and what VET policies are in place to retain your people in education and training, lead them towards a completion of a qualification or to bring them back into the education and training system. |
|
|
|
Session 3 |
| The use of data to inform policies and practice |
|
| The last session of the workshop will discuss the use of data to inform measures to prevent and address early leaving from VET. Several countries (e.g. Denmark, France, French speaking Community of Belgium) are putting in place monitoring systems that enable the identification of young people who dropped out in order to reach out them through remedial measures. The use of these systems in VET will be discussed. VET providers are also receiving data on the rates of early leaving in their institution with the objective to develop preventive measures. The experiences of using these systems will be discussed and strengths and weaknesses will be identified. Good practice examples will be presented. |
Expected outcomes
The event will be a combination of presentations and interactive sessions giving the opportunity to all participants for peer learning and experience exchange. The workshop conclusions will feed into Cedefop’s research in this field and the preparations of a joint Cedefop-Eurydice report to be published in November 2014. Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss knowledge gaps in this area and help Cedefop formulate the next stages of this research work.