A Study of the Factors that Lead to Student Drop-Out: The VET Context

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate different factors which ultimately lead a student in a VET (Vocational, Education, and Training) context to consider dropping out of the course of study. This study was carried out within the Malta College of Art, Science, and Technology (MCAST) as it is Malta’s leading VET institution. In order to address the major problem of school drop-outs, one has to understand why students consider dropping out of college. Identifying the reasons that lead to dropping out is extremely difficult because of the range of factors related to the individual student, the family, the community setting in which the student lives, and the school. The purpose of this study is to explore reasons leading students to consider dropping out in a VET context. It seeks to analyse any relationship between different factors in the life of a student and whether these factors lead a student to consider dropping out of a course of study. ‘The school drop-out rate is an important indicator in assessing the performance of the education system, by level of education. From another perspective analysis, it signals some aspects of social and economic life which can influence people’s access to education’ (Blandul and Abela 2015). Dropping out of school is the ultimate phase in a dynamic and cumulative process of disengagement (Newmann et al. 1992). The main objective of this research is to understand the main factors leading a student to consider dropping out of college in a VET context. It will also investigate what measures can be taken and what can be done within the college to minimize the drop-out rate. The independent variables in this study are the factors which previous studies have shown that they influence the drop-out rate. The dependent variable is the drop-out rate of students at MCAST. This analysis will study the existence of a relationship between these independent variables and the dependent variable.