The Impact of Institutional Context, Education and Labour Market Policies on Early School Leaving: a comparative analysis of EU countries

Kristof De Witte*, Ides Nicaise, Jeroen Lavrijsen, Georges Van Landeghem, Carl Lamote, Jan Van Damme

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

This article presents a comparative analysis of the determinants of early school leaving (esl) at the country level. We decompose esl rates into two components: a ‘primary’ rate reflecting unqualified school leaving from initial education, and a second component accounting for early school leavers who participate in training programmes. Both may be influenced by structural and policy determinants. We examine how the esl rate is affected by macro-economic and social context variables such as gdp/capita, growth, poverty, and youth unemployment, as well as system characteristics of the education system (such as legal school leaving age, grade retention, early tracking, and size of vocational education) and the labour market and social protection systems (minimum wages, unemployment insurance).
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)331-345
JournalEuropean Journal of Education
Volume48
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2013

Keywords

  • Early School Leaving
  • Determinants
  • decomposition

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