Listen to me I'm leaving: early school leaving in South Australian secondary schools

The Student's Completing School project was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and involved a partnership between the South Australian Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE), the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia (SSABSA) and the Flinders Institute for the Study of Teaching (FIST). This document reports on a project study reflecting an Australia-wide concern about the fall in student retention in the postcompulsory years of schooling since the peak in 1992. The research aimed to offer a forum for students to express their own feelings and...  [+] Show more

The Student's Completing School project was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and involved a partnership between the South Australian Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE), the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia (SSABSA) and the Flinders Institute for the Study of Teaching (FIST). This document reports on a project study reflecting an Australia-wide concern about the fall in student retention in the postcompulsory years of schooling since the peak in 1992. The research aimed to offer a forum for students to express their own feelings and experiences in these critical years in order to inform the education community about the factors that encourage student retention and the barriers to student retention. Combined with the reports of young people are existing theoretical insights from the literature.

The book has three sections. The first section outlines the research methodology, provides social and economic context for the study and provides a brief description of the policy context. The second section looks at the barriers to retention, the experiences of early school leavers, how they enter the youth labour market, how educational arrangements themselves contribute to early school leaving and the way in which school leavers persuade or force many young people to find another way into adult life. The third section provides a summary of the major themes that emerged during the course of the study and offers suggestions for actions at all levels that might result in a more supportive climate for students in the final years of schooling.