Caminhos para a saída. Factores que contribuem para o abandono escolar do ensino secundário em escolas de Vila Nova de Gaia: a perspectiva dos jovens

ln this work we tried to find which factors influence youths to early leave secondary schools in Vila Nova de Gaia. Through a qualitative study we interviewed youngsters who had attended grade 10 or 11, within six secondary schools in the municipality, and had left before completing their secondary studies. We also tried to know what head executives of these secondary schools thought about the relevance each group of factors performed to influence early school withdrawing. Our findings suggest the early school leaving, as a multi-dimensional process, is influenced by a wide variety of in-school and out-of-school factors that have, as a consequence, serious individual and social costs. The influence degree of one or more factors depends on the current social, economic, and educational situation of youths at the moment they leave school. The study of the head executives' understandings suggests they converge with youngsters' perspectives about the main factors; however, they diverge about the influence leve! of each group of factors in early leaving decisions.