School drop-out rate increases

(CS) Some 1,643 students left school without a qualification in Luxembourg at the end of the 2012/13 school year, with 433 of them without employment and not pursuing any further training.

The drop-out rate at public schools in 2012/13 was at 11.6 percent, up from 9.2 percent the previous year.

Of the 1,643 students who left school, some 779 were officially classified as drop-out. Some 415 had since enrolled in another school, either in Luxembourg or abroad. Another 449 could not be contacted by authorities. It is assumed that a majority of them has left the country.

The “Action locale pour jeunes” (ALJ) offers support for students who leave school early, reaching out to them to ascertain the reasons behind dropping out and helping those wishing to continue their education.

They found that of the 779 official drop-outs, only 88 had found employment, while 51 had signed up for a so-called “mesure d'emploi”, measures aimed at helping people secure a job. Over 200 students had re-enrolled in school but then dropped out again. Some 433 students, however, were not in employment or training.

The latter figure marked a significant increase compared to the 2011/12 school year, when only 299 of school drop-outs were left without a job or other occupation.

In its study, the AJL found that boys dropped out more frequently than girls and that foreign nationals were more affected. Additionally, students from vocational programmes left school more frequently without qualification, as well as students who previously failed at least two years.

The most commonly cited reasons for dropping out were academic failure (24.6 percent), poor student orientation (24.8 percent), inability to find an apprenticeship or a cancelled contract (12.2 percent), lack of motivation (8.2 percent) and personal reasons (7 percent).

A 2020 European Commission goal is to reduce the rate of school drop-outs to below 10 percent.

The government has taken a number of steps to help improve the situation. It wants to reform academic and professional orientation at schools, offer more diversified programmes and change the approach to repeating school years.

Additionally, a conference titled “Staying on Track” on the issue of school drop-outs is scheduled to take place during the EU presidency in July.