Tackling Early School Leaving 6 September 2013 Naples Dr. Ilona Murphy ICF-GHK Early Warning Systems

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Tackling Early School Leaving 6
September 2013NaplesDr. Ilona Murphy
ICF-GHKEarly Warning Systems
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Context of our work

• Europe 2020 headline target to bring down the
  share of early school leavers to below 10 by
  2020
• Council Recommendation of 28 June 2011 on
  policies to reduce ESL
• Highlights the need for comprehensive policies
  (prevention, intervention and compensation)
• European Commission Thematic Working Group on
  Early School Leaving (ESL) established Dec 2011

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TWG policy context and activities

• Activities include
• Two Peer Learning Activities (Netherlands and
  France)
• Peer Review on policies to reduce ESL
• Mapping exercises (data collection, early warning
  systems, cost of ESL)
• Report on comprehensive policies against ESL

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Early school leaving in Europe scale of the
problem

• In 2012, 12.9 18 to 24 years old had not
  completed upper secondary education and no longer
  in education and training
• Represents 5.5 million young people
• More young men than young women are ESL
• ESL major problem for disadvantaged minorities
• More pronounced in VET
• Wide disparities among European countries and
  regions
• Unemployment rate amongst early school leavers
  was 40.1 in 2012 - economic crisis is having
  diverging impacts on ESL

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ESL rate 2012, Europe 2020 target and national
targets
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Early warning systems (EWS) in Europe mapping
exercise

• EWS broad term, taking different forms -
  definition and characteristics are tentative
• EWS collect and use data on students to identify
  risk factors and trigger follow up
• Aim is to warn school staff of young people at
  risk
• EWS typically integral to mainstream school
  monitoring and management systems
• A small number of countries have developed
  separate systems, others have no such systems in
  place

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Variations in approach
EWS largely driven by national legislation but
implementation tends to be local
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EWS signals
Schools and teachers play an important role in
recognising early signs of disengagement
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Other methods to identify youth at risk country
examples
Collaboration
Austria youth coaches work with young people
Hungary Person employed with responsibility for child/youth welfare
Sweden All school personnel obliged to report person identified at risk
Belgium Teachers involved in mediation
Ireland School Completion Programme to help young people in disadvantaged areas
Research and data
UK England Risk of NEET indicators
Student registration systems
Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania and Slovakia systems assist in identification of EWS through recording absences and academic achievement
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Responses to EWS
Responses should be accompanied by clear and
timely support
Some countries impose fines, sanctions and
prosecution
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Impact of EWS

• Little evidence of the impact of EWS
  evaluations are rare, difficult to identify
  causality between trends
• Eurostat and national data show reductions in ESL
  view that EWS have contributed to reduction
• More resources and evaluation of approaches
  required
• How are EWS defined in different European
  countries?
• When schools or local authorities report absences
  what is the outcome of this activity?
• What is the data used for? Does it inform policy
  making? How accessible is it to users?
• What distinguishes EWS from being a bureaucratic
  exercise from systems that address EWS?
• How do countries determine different EWS?
• How is collaboration and partnerships working in
  practice?

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Key lessons, success factors and challenges

• Key lessons and success factors
• Important role of teachers
• Importance of individual support and guidance for
  students
• Cooperation between schools, supporting systems,
  professionals
• Challenges
• Budget cuts, ensuring legal responsibilities
  related to EWS are implemented, need for
  user-friendly data systems, lack of training on
  ESL, lack of coordination, establishing buy-in,
  unwillingness of some schools

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Concluding remarks

• Clear definition of EWS
• A comprehensive list of EWS must be broader than
  monitoring absenteeism alone (social, family
  related issues)
• EWS should be evidenced based and operate through
  a process of identification/assessment of signals
  intervening - monitoring
• EWS must be accompanied by clear and timely
  support
• EWS must be evaluated and monitored to ensure
  efficiency and effectiveness within the context
  of the school

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• Thank you for your attention
• Ilona.murphy_at_ghkint.com

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