Leaving School

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Leaving School Remember your first day at
school? It seems like yesterday! Suddenly, its
all over. Leaving school can be very stressful
and difficult and  secretly, despite pretending
to be pleased, many students are very unhappy to
be leaving. Here are the reasons, the symptoms
and the cure.
2

• Reason
• Leaving school is a change that is called a
  TRANSITION. It is, in fact, the transition from
  school to work. A transition is a change that has
  two special characteristics
• There is a break or feeling of discontinuity in
  your life
• New patterns of behaviour are needed to cope with
  the change

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These two characteristics make leaving school a
strain for some students. If you have been happy
at school, the discontinuity can be very painful,
because you are making a break with happiness and
this is difficult. Having to learn new patterns
of behaviour can be very stressful in your first
job, college or university.
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Symptoms The very fact that you are reading this
probably means that you are engaged with planning
your future and will not have problems, but you
may know of other students that seem to become
'adrift' in the period prior to leaving school.
The next four slides show some of the classic
symptoms that indicate difficulty in coping with
transition
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Drop-out - The student ceases to take school or
trying to 'sort-out' their future seriously. This
may also include not doing school work properly.
It is as though leaving is so painful that it is
necessary to reject school and the future.
6
Going through the motions - The students takes
part in school and planning for the future but in
a 'going through the motions' manner where there
is no real involvement or engagement.
The student is still flying but the propeller is
not really going round!
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Putting it off - The student wants to become
engaged with sorting out her/his future but
always finds something that is more important to
accomplish.
8
Beckham Syndrome The student believes that there
is no need to prepare for the future because
he/she will be discovered i.e. college,
university, work, the world will recognise that
the student is special and the rules will alter
for her/him.
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The Cure Get Engaged If you are concerned
about your future, talk to someone about it -
your tutor, etc. You can always ask to see the
Connexions adviser. The main thing is to make
plans for your future, take your school work and
revision seriously. In short get engaged with
your future. I always tell students that there
is only one thing that is worse than leaving
school and that is not being able to leave
school. By this, I mean that the student has not
prepared herself/himself for life after school.
It is very important that you do this. Ask for
help if you need it.