LYCAM questionnaire

Description

The LYCAM (Lycée, ça m'intéresse) questionnaire, developed by the French Ministry of Education aims at helping practitioners to identify secondary school students’ difficulties, motivations and personal views of school.

Beneficiaries

Students in secondary education (all types of education) and educational staff/guidance counsellors.

Countries

France

Country/ies or organisation that developed the tool

Ministry of Education (France)

Date of creation of toolkit and periodicity of updates

Early 2000. Transferred from Canada and Belgium.

Purpose of the toolkit

Guidance on how to identify and monitor early school leavers or those at risk of early school leaving

LYCAM is a preventive questionnaire. It allows early identification of students at risk of dropping out and implementation of actions based on the identified support needs.

Description of each of the tools

The tool is a questionnaire of 41 questions, which takes 20-30 minutes to complete. It is aimed at helping school level practitioners identify secondary school students’ difficulties, motivations and personal views on school.

It enables the identification of students most likely to drop out of school. It is therefore a tool to implement appropriate action as early as possible, at school level, depending on the nature of the needed support. The diagnosis can either be individual or collective. National authorities require that the school psychologists and guidance counsellors be fully involved in the analysis of the results and in the definition of the needed support.

Type of indicators used in the identification of learners at risk of early leaving

The questionnaire has been created based on 7 dimensions/indicators:

the families’ attitudes towards school (the families’ role in their children’s schooling)
academic school projects (projects related to studies, interest in school, level of aspiration)
academic attainment (self-evaluation by students of their capacity to achieve work and academic goals)
self-confidence (relative to academic success)
absenteeism (attitudes and behaviours relating to school attendance, acceptance or non-acceptance of high school rules)
need for support from teachers (quality of relationships between students and teaching staff)
interest in school (students’ interest in their education and school life)

Type of guidance given to users

If the student answers negatively to 18 questions out of 41, he is considered at-risk. Pedagogical staff can then intervene and provide individual support to the student.

Example of questions asked:

During the course, do you listen carefully?
A - It depends on the day.
B - It depends on whether the course interests me.
C - Yes, always.
D - No, I am easily distracted.

Of the following, which is the one that represents you best?
A - I am very tolerant with school regulations.
B - I support well enough regulations and school work.
C - I hardly support regulations and school work.
D - I do not support at all the regulations and the work required.

I would rather do anything else than continuing to go to school.
Yes/No

This year I think it will go well for me at school.
Yes/No

In general, I'm pretty sure I will succeed at school.
Yes/No

I got the (VET) course option that I wanted.
Yes/No

In general, I like school.
Yes/No