Big school, less view on the child

Research on school drop outs

Guus Valk, 
translated from: NRC 19 December 2001

More and more money is spent to school drop outs. 
Nevertheless: practice fails. Scarce rates even show an increase of the drop-out's  numbers, says researcher L. van Tilborg 

"They form a stable but difficult group, which represents three to four percent of all students. They have troubles at home, they find school too difficult, or they are enticed to a job", says researcher Loes van Tilborg from Bureau Sardes. 

Since 1994, Van Tilborg charts how many students leave the lowest education level without a diploma. According to her estimation, each year at least 46,000 students become drop-outs without a diploma, a rate that is more or less stable last years. 

"They choose a good-paid job But is is still a risk group because they have a vulnerable position on the job market. As soon as the economy decreases, they at first are dismissed."

Particularly from the lower levels of professional education, many students drop out, sometimes up to 30 percent of the students. 

These numbers remain estimations. It is not clear how many drop-outs there are, said the Audit Office yesterday in a report. Registration is inadequate, because schools do not report a great group of drop-outs. Particularly students who are no longer of school age, youths between 16 and 23 years old, are badly registered. Thus, the Audit Office said, it is not clear if the 71 million guilders, spent last year to the drop-outs, do have any result.

More and more money is spent to prevent dropping out from schools. Minister Hermans (Minister of Education), called it "a top priority". Nevertheless, it is not clear of extra money results in a decrease of the drop-out rate, says Van Tilborg. 

"Registration of that group is inadequate at many schools. And the numbers we are sure of, rise."

Aren't schools obligated to report children in school age to municipalty?

"Many schools do not have the discipline to always report drop-out. Moreover, there are schools that not until later spot that a student has left school and doesn't return. Schools report slightly better than some years ago, and in my opinion this explains the rise of the numbers."

In the mid-90s, a great scaling up of schools was performed. Did this have effect on the approach of drop-outs?

"Yes, surely. In secondary education, schools are merged into big school communities. There are created big centers for secondary education. By that the problems of the individual students have become less visible. Before that scaling up, it was more or less a matter of counting heads. That change was at the expense of students who have problems at school. In smaller schools they may show up better."

The scaling up was consciously stimulated by government. Was this not taken into account in those days?

"There were, of course, financial motives. The yield must rise, there had to be more achievement, more diplomas. Now wee see that schools more and more try to return to a small scale, for example by placing the lower forms in separate buildings, by placing high-risk students in special classes, and by appointing more mentors."

In addition, since the mid-90s, during the ministry of former minister Ritzen, the approach of the drop-outs has been largely decentralized. No longer the government demanded what schools had to do in order to combat drop-out, schools had to develop their own method. Regional reporting offices and coordination centers keep up with the development in the regions. Prevention of drop-out has benefited from this, says Van Tilbirg.

"The results are still not optimal, but I think that the schools themselves know the best what to do to prevent drop-out. One should not command any method."