COACHING TO REDUCE EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING

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. Schools play an important role in addressing ESL but they cannot and should not work in isolation. Comprehensive approaches that focus on the root causes of ESL are required to reduce ESL. Reducing ESL can help towards the integration of young people into the labour market, and contribute to breaking the cycle of deprivation that leads to the social exclusion of too many young people. All partners agree that "the main need is specific training for teachers to give them practical strategies to resolve the problem at an early stage e.g. the development of interactive teaching methods”.

This course give strategies and teaching methods to the teachers. Actions to recover students at risk are proven successful when strictly connected with their practical experiences which makes them protagonists of their learning processes. Hence the central idea of choosing that kind of actions as the basis for planning prevention activities. In this regard the most functional teaching method appears to be active learning as it allows to value those learning styles which are typical of students at risk giving a sound base for motivation, to promote knowledge through experience and reflection on experience (metacognition), to develop a gradually more formalized knowledge through induction, to practice the skills acquired in the field.

The methodology of the training is based on a combination of three important elements:

• Provision of knowledge required (theory)
• Use of training tools, such as case studies, videos, games, animations & exercises (practice – hands on experience)
• Feedback/reflection (review)