Search results for: Dropouts

This article describes how research-based knowledge was used in practice in an action research project which examined student dropout. The research was conducted as ‘research circles’ and involved systematic and organised cooperation between researchers and practitioners, in this case college teachers. Based on interviews with the teachers, the authors found that research-based knowledge was used in a variety of ways: as concepts for discussing real-world experiences, as confirmation of the teachers’ practical experiences, as a frame for understanding praxis, to inform action, to conduct research activities, and as a way of legitimising the importance of the practitioners’ performance in their daily work. The teachers used knowledge from previous research as well as that developed during the course of the project. However, findings indicated that research-based knowledge appeared to be more useful for talking about and understanding practice rather than guiding practical action. In order to deepen its impact on practitioners’ actions, researchers and practitioners should work together to translate research-based knowledge and theoretical concepts into practice and specify how practitioners can apply it when developing their actions. Therefore, action researchers should allocate time to the process of transforming research-based knowledge into practical actions – in co-operation with practitioners – as an integral part of their research project.

This article discusses how student identities are constituted through social categories and how this affects students’ educational trajectories. It demonstrates how dropping out is a long-term process involving social interactions between the students. It is based on a field study in which the author was enrolled as a student at the car mechanic program at a vocational education and training school. The various social categories emerge in contrast with each other and have fundamental influences in defining the students’ scope of action. The discussion calls for awareness of reproducing effects of taken-for-granted logics and discriminatory practices and for including identity-related perspectives on peer relations, when studying dropout.

Teacher attrition threatens validity in research studies. In this article, the authors examine the threat of participant attrition as an example of the types of problems researchers face. The authors found that teachers left because of changes in teaching assignments, institutional challenges, and personal challenges.

Much of the research explains school dropout using statistical relationships between dropout rates and a variety of 'risk factors' attributed to student' such as income, race/ethnicity, academic achievement and behaviors and attitudes. In contrast, this study investigates two Latino adolescents' everyday experiences of dropping out in the context of cultural and structural aspects of school. Implications for practice and further research are examined.