SOS-network – Social Inclusion of Students/Learners with Special Needs into mainstream VET and the labour market
We shall overcome. Barriers to education: Drop-outs or push-outs?
They are labeled in many different ways. Officially, in the EU Commission language, they are called Early School Leavers (ESL). In the English speaking countries they are called NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) or even Drop Outs. What they have in common is that they do not fit easily into mainstream education. Or perhaps that mainstream education does not fit their needs. This report aims at unfolding these issues.
This report is based on a study of the SOS Network collected descriptions of barriers to education, and it presents perspectives on learning that move the focus from the individual to the institutional level. Students in the risk of becoming early school leavers may struggle with individual problems but part of the problem may also be the learning styles practiced by the educational institutions. In this sense the drop-out ends up becoming pushed out.
