Abstract:

In the actual knowledge-based society, providing adequate education with high levels of education and stimulating the acquisition of new competences become an investment essential for assuring active participation of European citizens at the smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. The concept of school dropout is important because, through its quantitative and qualitative characteristics, provides a better view on the definition, understanding and operating of what education experts call "access to education, participation, school and social progress".

Therefore, this article presents an overview of the national features of dropout phenomenon in six European countries (Austria, Northern Ireland, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece) and select best practices in order to identify the more relevant solutions and elements of transfer regarding measures against drop out and truancy. For facilitating comparative analyze, the good practice examples are presented under a common structure including: a brief description of the good practice and why is it worthwhile to be considered a good practice; the promoter of the initiative; target group; the phenomena addressed by this good practice (e.g. school dropout, absenteeism, school bullying, school failure, etc.); the risk factors taking into consideration by this good practice; the educational/ counseling /theoretical approach; the results achieved; and the opportunities for the transferability.

We conclude that it is necessary to have a congruence in actions at community level between institutions that may have a role in preventing school dropout. Also the action in multidisciplinary team creates points of connection between the education system and labor market insertion, something that can motivate students in technological colleges to continue their studies, and lead to lower dropout. It follows the need for a common framework for action, which can be the basis of a specific methodology structuring actions to combat school dropout.

Keywords:

Vocational traning dropout, education dropout, preventing truancy.