Social factors outside of family and school related to student dropout

Abstract

The paper presents a systematisation of broader social factors affecting student dropout in Serbia from the framework of Bronfenbrenner's approach. Although recognised by authors and commonly related to community and education as a system, these factors are rarely investigated. Starting from our previous research into dropout, focused primarily on family and school, this study is aimed at investigating community and systemic factors. The data were compiled by semi-structured interviews with respondents from the following groups (including relevant public statistical data): students who dropped out/are at risk and their parents; school principals and counsellors from schools with high and low attrition rates; teachers' , parents' and students' representatives from schools with high dropout rates; social workers in charge of schools with a low attrition rate; representatives of national educational institutions. The findings reveal that factors with a negative impact on children's education dominate over supportive ones which could have a preventive effect on attrition. Negative influences exist in all social niches: in microsystems (peers prone to risky behaviour, poor neighbourhoods), in weak mesosystem connections of school and family with local institutions, in exosystems (undeveloped 1 The paper is part of the project "Identification, measurement and development of cognitive and emotional competences important for a society oriented towards European integrations" (No. 179018) conducted by the Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy University of Belgrade, and funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia and the Project "Research and analysis study of school, individual and social factors influencing primary and secondary school drop-out and identification of innovative approaches for dropout prevention in school and through community services" funded by UNICEF. 2 A small portion of the results presented in this study, within microsystem and a few in the mesosytem, was previously reported in Stepanović Ilić, Videnović & Lazarević, 2015. 3 istepano@f.bg.ac.rs