Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe how dropouts navigate their educational journeys. Eighty dropouts participated to individual interviews which were recorded and transcribed. The data analysis yielded three broad categories in answering the research question. Setting the stage in the family and the school, the dropouts described their teetering between in and out of school contexts and proceeded to explain how they ended their educational journey. For 20 dropouts, family turmoil represented a pervasive force negatively influencing their schooling. For 24 dropouts, problems in school set the stage for dropping out. Teetering represented juggling strategies to prolongand to sabotage the journey, while the end of the journey occurred as a result of a pivotal moment (48%) or a gradual fade out (52%) from the school context.
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Lessard, A., Butler-Kisber, L., Fortin, L. et al. Shades of disengagement: high school dropouts speak out. Soc Psychol Educ 11, 25–42 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-007-9033-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-007-9033-z