Factors influencing early school dropout: student’s perspective

Reducing early school dropout rates continues to be a priority line of action for education systems worldwide. In this sense, it seems appropriate to advance in the understanding of the factors that predispose students to make this decision, which can have disruptive effects on both personal and social levels. Sensitive to its importance, this work aims to identify factors that influence the intention to drop out of school early. To do so, we adopted a quantitative methodological approach through a survey procedure. Its application took place in the Autonomous Community of La Rioja (Spain), where the problem of early school leaving is a key area of work in its political agenda. The survey was carried out by administering an ad hoc questionnaire to the population of students in the last years of compulsory education and the first year of non-compulsory education. The participating sample consisted of 1157 students. The results indicate that the usefulness attributed to the study activity and the perceived relative ease of obtaining the academic qualification are two factors of significant influence on the intention to drop out of school early. Additionally the socio-familial context of the students and the human resources of the school are also significant predictors of this same intention. We conclude by stressing the need to address the problem of early school leaving from a multidimensional approach that helps students to become aware of the usefulness and deep meaning of the educational task, while at the same time promoting positive motivational beliefs about the value of effort in order to successfully face valuable and challenging educational goals.