Drop out from state secondary girls' schools in New Zealand : an ecological perspective : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorCoutts, Christine Elizabeth
dc.date.accessioned2009-04-17T02:21:15Z
dc.date.availableNO_RESTRICTIONen_US
dc.date.available2009-04-17T02:21:15Z
dc.date.issued2007
dc.description.abstractEconomic change requiring a more highly skilled workforce prompted worldwide concern over high school drop out. Dropouts are young people who leave school early, often without attaining formal educational qualifications. Much previous research centred on at-risk students and a range of individual, social, family and school factors associated with drop out were identified. This case study of student drop out and retention at three girls’ state secondary schools over 2003 suggests that early leaving behaviour cannot be understood outside of the settings in which it occurs. Adopting an ecological perspective facilitated a deeper understanding of the complex interactions between the dropouts and their environment. From a narratives and numbers approach rich stories of early leaving emerged. Patterns of leaving were consistent with national trends: The lower decile school had the highest drop out rate, and dropouts were more likely to be Maori and Pasifika than European. Dropping out was shown to be a complicated and iterative process in which the influence of the environment is very important. Family and school relationships had a major impact but which had the greatest influence was inconclusive because there was a high level of interconnectedness between these proximal settings within the mesosystem and the bigger picture education and welfare systems. The extent of the contribution each level made to early leaving varied across individual stories, between schools and over time. Leaving school is an ecological transition that involves changing roles from high school pupil to that of tertiary student, mother, worker or benefit recipient. The students’ stories show drop out to be both an outcome, and an initiator, of developmental change. An important challenge for schools is not necessarily to reduce the number of early leavers but to establish effective transition programmes that assist students to become proactive in navigating the many transitions anticipated over their life course. The implementation of such school programmes needs to be supported by parallel changes in government policy.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10179/740
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherMassey Universityen_US
dc.rightsThe Authoren_US
dc.subjectDropoutsen_US
dc.subjectGirls' high schoolsen_US
dc.subjectSecondary schoolsen_US
dc.subjectNew Zealanden_US
dc.subject.otherFields of Research::330000 Education::330100 Education Studies::330103 Sociology of educationen_US
dc.titleDrop out from state secondary girls' schools in New Zealand : an ecological perspective : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealanden_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
massey.contributor.authorCoutts, Christine Elizabeth
thesis.degree.disciplineEducationen_US
thesis.degree.grantorMassey Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Education (Ed.D.)en_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Thumbnail Image
Name:
02whole.pdf
Size:
1.99 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Thumbnail Image
Name:
01front.pdf
Size:
83.99 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
896 B
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Theses and Dissertations