Study on access to education and training, basic skills and early school leavers: final report

This report presents the findings of the study on early school leavers undertaken by GHK on behalf of the European Commission Directorate General for Education and Culture (DGEAC). The work was undertaken between December 2004 and September 2005. This report provides evidence on trends with respect to early school leavers and the achievements of European education and training systems in reducing the numbers of early school leavers. The study collected and analysed available data related to the following questions: What are the socio-economic characteristics of young people at risk? How do early school leavers perform on the labour market? Is there scope for early school leavers to return to education and training in later life? The overall purpose was to achieve a better understanding of early school leavers based on a detailed analysis of past and current trends in early school leaving in Europe and in four non-European OECD countries, USA, Australia, Canada and Japan. An analytical framework was developed that identified all factors likely to influence early school leavers and a number of hypotheses that have been tested through statistical and desk research of the literature or combinations of these methods. The study offers suggestions which aim to encourage consideration of the wider policy issues of how the phenomenon of early school leaving affects the individual and society. It is argued that the number of school-age children is declining at present which raises an important cost-efficiency issue. In principle, decreasing student numbers might be expected to free resources which could be used for investment in other areas of education. In practice, the more likely outcome may be an increase in expenditure per student, at least in the short to medium term. Show less