Module-2 Early school leaving and the role of the family

UNIT-1 School and the family

Unit 1 works as the introduction to the module and gives to the learner the scientific theory of family involvement in school (Epstein’s typology). Additionally, the unit presents the benefits of effective family-school communication, by giving the consequences of a good communication for students, parents and teachers.

UNIT-2 Parents’ engagement in school

According to relevant studies “family and community involvement in education transforms educational interactions in the school, the street and the household” (Flecha and Flecha, 2015). Therefore, parents’ involvement and even better parents’ engagement in the school could be a key element in the overall pedagogical process of students. In this unit, the learner will understand the difference between parents’ involvement and parents’ engagement and why the former precedes and should be followed by the latter. Moreover, the unit also provides a methodology to measure parent engagement and is complemented with the sample case below, which offers an evaluation tool for parent engagement in school.

UNIT-3 Insufficient financial situation of the family and the role of the school

Several academic studies indicated that financial pressure in families has a negative impact in children and adolescents, such as socioemotional problems, teenage pregnancy, bad behaviour, and lower school performance (Brody et al., 1994; Gutman, McLoyd, & Tokoyawa, 2005; McLeod & Shanahan, 1993; Mistry, Vandewater, Huston, & McLoyd, 2002; Nievar & Luster, 2006). In this context, low income is particularly linked to problems in reading recognition in middle school children and so to their respective vocabulary (Nievar & Luster, 2006). The lack of a sufficient financial situation in family often leads to less structure and organisation at home, something that is crucial for adolescent’s school achievement and engagement (Taylor & Lopez, 2005).

UNIT-4 Domestic violence as a barrier to academic performance

Several academic studies showed that domestic violence is a factor that negatively affects the academic performance of students. According to Ward (2013), students who experience domestic violence can’t concentrate in school, while Baker (2002) argues that these students tend to absenteeism/ truancy. The latter scholar highlights also the fact that students tend to be distracted in school, because they are thinking of the problems at home. Because of domestic violence, students tend also to have sudden and/or extreme changes in their performance (Crosson-Tower, 2003), something that leads to low grades and a difficulty to ‘catch up’ with the class. Lastly, Cole et al. (2013) examined the effects on a cognitive level and reported difficulties on learning, problem solving and analyzing. Overall, domestic violence impedes students’ academic performance and, in our case, it might be one of the reasons that leads students to early school leaving.

ACTIVITIES - ANNEX 1

SAMPLE CASES - ANNEX 2

SURVEY - ANNEX 3

GOOD PRACTICES - ANNEX 4