European Commission (EC), in 2013, stated in the Report “Reducing early school leaving: Key messages and policy support” that Early school leaving (ESL) is a multi-faceted and complex problem caused by a cumulative process of disengagement. It is a result of personal, social, economic, education or family-related reasons, where schools play an important role in addressing ESL but they cannot and should not work in isolation. The disparities in dropout rate among partner countries, favor the best practices and methods exchange in the present project's context between schools placed in different countries and the contribution to tackle ESL in disadvantaged areas. The partnership in this project intent to develop different innovative approaches to help schools, students and families/parents to prevent ESL. We will work with systems, methodology and concrete tools to improve communication between school and families/parents. Project will work to improve pedagogic at schools, to enable students to have homework easier to deal with alone or together with parents. Finally, the project will develop software/App, which will collect data suitable to give schools early warning about students in danger of being an ESL. Since the project is transnational, the ability to understand cultural contexts in using developet tools, will also be an important result of the project. Proejct will conduct a joint Staff Training, where teachers and staff from partners work through developed material to get an ownership to it. Then the schools will carry out a pilot, testing all or elements of the tools to harvest experiences and necessary feedback to complete both methods, educational tools and the software. Outputs will be translated into the national languages and in English to be easily adapted to schools from other countries and disseminated through different channels, including social networks or events. Over 2000 people (students, family members and teachers) in the activity’s implementation, in order to validate the quality and effectiveness of the planned outputs. Long-term benefits will be the creation of a family engagement model at European level that effectively connects parents/carer with pupils, mean increasing families participation in their learning. By doing this, pupils’ achievements at school and adaptation to school will be better and Early School Leaving will be reduced in areas where ESL rates are high. School staff will improve their link with parents and families, their pedagogic activities and early warning system. Schools will improve their services’ quality and the link with families and local community, playing an integrator role in the society.
The project aim to: - reducing ESL by improving home learning environment to maximize primary and secondary students' achievements and adaptation - Create pedagogic solution, making it easier for parents to follow up their children’s school work - Create software/app to software to track, prevent and warn ESL - improving and increasing the participation of families in the school context; - contributing to the standardization of a transferrable methodology in family engagement valid for a wide range of schools and staff in Europe;
European Commission (EC), in 2013, stated in the Report “Reducing early school leaving: Key messages and policy support” that Early school leaving (ESL) is a multi-faceted and complex problem caused by a cumulative process of disengagement. It is a result of personal, social, economic, education or family-related reasons, where schools play an important role in addressing ESL but they cannot and should not work in isolation. European data are not available in relation to 14, 15 or 16 school leavers. However, statistics for people from 18 to 24 years old who had not completed upper secondary education and were no longer in education and training shows different data regarding to the countries involved in the project: Turkey, 39,6%, Italy, 14%, Romania, 18,1%, Portugal 12.6%, while Norway stands better. These disparities favour the best practices and methods exchange in the present project's context between schools placed in different countries and the contribution to tackle ESL in disadvantaged areas. Leaving school before completing upper secondary education is often the outcome of a progressive and cumulative process of disengagement . It is triggered by problems that can be related to the course of study, the school, or to certain health, personal, friendship or emotional difficulties young people face. It can be associated with the socioeconomic or family background of pupils, specially those from disadvantaged backgrounds and communities affected by migration, high unemployment rates, lack of stable family, drug distribution and crime are often exposed to early school leaving (ESL) and school dropout, which make them have less opportunities than those children living in more advantaged areas. EC recommends that schools should develop approaches that enable parents to become a resource in their children’s learning, specific outreach programmes to encourage the active participation and representation of vulnerable parents and families and efficiently engage parents, pupils and local actors who offer their time and experience. Moreover, parents need to be supported in their engagement with school education, be strongly encouraged to get involved and responsible for their children's school attendance and education, also by offering parents/carers with low levels of education specific education and training on basic skills.