NO STUDENT LEFT BEHIND: HOW TO PREVENT EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Early leavers from education and training are young people aged 18-24 who have completed at most a lower secondary education and are not in further education or training. Early school leaving (ESL) brings a range of interconnected problems. It is linked to unemployment, social exclusion, poverty and poor health and still many European countries are struggling to reduce their ESL rates. ESL is the result of a gradual disengagement process of students from school, due to various interrelated factors that include lack of motivation, poor educational performance, learning difficulties, personal or family problems, often in strong connection with a difficult socio-economic background.
Education system characteristics and school climate are also very important factors in the process of student engagement or disengagement.
This course is designed to provide teachers with practical and effective tips and methods they can immediately implement in their everyday work. Participants of this course will acquire effective tools to approach this issue and tackle ESL at individual and school level.
This course discusses policies and measures to reduce ESL – prevention, intervention and compensation but it especially focuses on ESL preventive strategies and intervention. We focus on tackling this issue as early as possible and addressing endangered students before or as soon as the warning signs appear.
Participants of the course will be equipped with the effective classroom strategies that all learners can benefit from, not only the groups most at risk of ESL. Preventive approach relies on European Commission’s recommendations and requires whole school approach, as well. School leaders, teachers and other people involved in different aspects of school life will find helpful information, successful examples of measures, case studies and resource material to inspire their efforts in providing high-quality school education and prevent ESL at institutional level.
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE:
- Understanding the differences within the EU, societal and individual consequences of ESL – risk of social exclusion, low self-esteem, difficulties in the labour market, becoming a NEET.
- Learning to identify the students at risk of ESL and addressing the causes.
- Enhancing new classroom skills and habits – learning the recommended ways of expressing our expectations of success, providing feedback and increasing motivation in low-achieving students.
- Acquiring the knowledge of individual and institutional, whole school approach to tackling ESL
- Facilitating the ability to create a school project aimed at reducing the ESL.
- Discussing the strategies to combat ESL; three types of approaches – prevention, intervention, compensation.
- Sharing case studies, experiences and understanding different strategies to reduce ESL.
METHODOLOGY:
This course will focus on the individual and whole school approach to ESL. Reasons behind early school leaving are complex so the participants will learn from the variety of strategies that encourage collaboration within, between and beyond schools, including different stakeholders. Methodology is based on theoretical lessons and discussions, problem based approach involving group activities, peer work and individual work, as well as experience comparisons. Our methodological approach involves an interactive participation, it is highly practical and derived from the methods used and tested out in our professional youth work practice, collaborative projects and research, our teaching experience and our experience of working with at-risk youth.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Course fee:
400 EUR (5 days’ long program)
560 EUR (7 days’ long program)
Planned dates of the course:
03.02. – 07.02.2025.
10.03. – 14.03.2025.
26.05. – 30.05.2025.
16.06. – 20.06.2025.
21.07. – 25.07.2025.
18.08. – 22.08.2025.
13.10. – 17.10.2025.
24.11. – 28.11.2025.
01.12. – 05.12.2025.
Location of the course: Split, Croatia
Register for the course/questions about the course: edunaut.hr@gmail.com