Student school engagement, self-efficacy and post-compulsory retention

Abstract

Ensuring equality of opportunity in education and more inclusive approaches to student outreach and support, curriculum and pedagogy, are matters of international concern (UNESCO, Education for all: meeting our collective commitments. Text adopted by the World Education Forum. Dakar Framework for Action. Dakar, Senegal, 26-28 April 2000. Accessed on 15 May 2011.http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/ed_for_all/dakfram_eng.shtml, 2000). As progress is being made towards the Millennium Development Goals of Education For All (EFA), with increased participation in primary education worldwide (UNESCO, EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010: reaching the marginalised. UNESCO Publishing and Oxford University Press, Paris/Oxford. Accessed 16 May 2011. On http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001866/186606E.pdf\, 2010), the pressure will increase for governments in economically less developed nations to provide access to, and encourage take up of, opportunities at the secondary and post-compulsory levels. This applies particularly to disadvantaged and marginalized groups such as those with lower socio-economic backgrounds, indigenous people and those living in rural and remote regions (UNICEF, Levels, trends and determinants of primary school participation and gender parity. United Nations Children’s Fund, New York, 2005).