School failure in Portugal

 

According to a European Commission report on Early School Leaving  during the year of 2012, Portugal has one of the three highest rates of early school leaving (20.8%), but has made a progress of -2,4 when compared to 2011.

In fact, in Portugal, the percentage of students who drop out school has been declining since 2005 when there was a rate of 38,8% of young people leaving school.

 

Nevertheless, Portugal is still one of three worst European countries in what concerns the percentage of school drop outs and its national objective is that school abandonment rate sits at a maximum of 10 percent, which is closer to the EU average.

 

Who are these students?

Normally, these students are

• coming from poor socio-economic backgrounds;

• male students who are more at risk of drop-out than female;

• part-time students, who are at greater risk as a result of working long hours in a job unrelated to their studies;

• minority ethnic students, who may face obstacles of racism or poverty;

• students with disabilities who often drop out due to physical problems of access and discrimination.

 

Why do they drop out school?

The general causes can be related with

• financial problems ;

• parents’ educational example, because most often students who drop out come from families where the parents themselves did not spend more than eight years in school;

• siblings’ educational example. Families in which elder siblings have left school early often see the younger ones do the same;.

• dysfunctional families. Tribulations like divorce, alcoholism and domestic violence can often presage school dropout;

• the lack of trust in the education system as students  sometimes get bored and see no connection between academic life and "real" life.;

 

 

What are the consequences for students of dropping out school?

The consequences might be:

• higher rate of unemployment;

• lower salaries;

• missing all the opportunities enhanced by attending and finishing school.

 

 

What can be done to reduce dropping out?

In order to prevent early school leaving we should:

• offer financial support to students;

• create more relevant and engaging courses;

• make structural and scheduling changes to the typical school day;

• engage parents;

• make learning relevant by showing them the connection between school and the real world;

• accrediting the life skills students have already acquired;

• providing academic support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.