Transcript Disengaged from School not Education

Disengagement
from education
among 14-16
year olds
Andy Ross
DCSF Research Conference 2010
Aims
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To provide a typology of disengaged/engaged young
people identifying the different ways in which
disengagement can be manifest
To describe them in terms of their further attitudes to
school, staff, learning, their future, and what
motivates them in terms of education and beyond
Explore whether young people transition between
these different types over time (years 9 – 11)
Explore factors that might explain when and why
some young people disengage
Background
• Previous research has illustrated the importance of
distinguishing between different ‘types’ of
disengaged young people (Steedman & Stoney, 2004; Callanan et.
al. 2009)
• Previous quantitative research has begun to ‘build a
picture’ of disengaged young people (McIntosh & Houghton,
2005)
• Going beyond narrow definitions of disengagement
• Disengagement as a multidimensional concept
consisting of motivations, attitudes and behaviour
(Morris & Pullen, 2007)
A statistical method suitable for
capturing disengagement
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Latent Class Analysis (LCA)
Enables us to capture multidimensional constructs
such as disengagement
Explores structure within a set of measures to identify
underlying types or classes of individuals
For example… we might find a type that dislikes school,
may also skip the odd class, but otherwise remain
committed to long-term education
Limitations: Does not capture all heterogeneity; limited
by availability of measures
Longitudinal Study of Young People in
England (LSYPE)
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Comprehensive cohort study focusing on transitions
through education to employment
Funded by Department for Children, Schools and
Families to evaluate impact of policy
Data from multiple sources (young person; main and
second parents; linked in NPD data)
15,770 pupils sampled at Wave 1, 11,449 at Wave 4
(weighted for attrition)
Ethnic minority boost (n = 1000); Deprived schools over
sampled by 1.5
Longitudinal Study of Young
People in England (LSYPE)
Wave
Year
School Year
Age
1
2004
Year 9
13/14
2
2005
Year 10
14/15
3
2006
Year 11
15/16
4
2007
Year 12
16/17
(or equivalent)
5
2008
Year 13
17/18
(or equivalent)
6
2009
“Year 14”
(or equivalent)
18/19
Motivations
• Plans following year 11
(Continue with fulltime education; Job with training; job no
training; Something else)
• Likelihood of applying to do a degree at university
(Very likely; Fairly likely; Not very likely; Not at all likely)
• Truancy
Behaviour
(None; Odd day or lesson; Particular lessons; Several days
or weeks at a time)
Attitudes to School
Feelings about school (10 item scale)
 I am happy when I am at school
 School is a waste of time for me
 School work is worth doing
 Most of the time I don't want to go to school
 On the whole I like being at school
 I work as hard as I can in school
 In a lesson, I often count the minutes till it ends
 I am bored in lessons
 The work I do in lessons is a waste of time
 The work I do in lessons is interesting to me
Results
• Best fitting solution identified the same four
groups in each year:
Engaged
Disengaged from School not Education
Engaged with School not Higher Education
Disengaged
‘Engaged’
(Y9: 40%; Y10: 33%; Y11: 34%)
Aspirations for Year 12
FT Education
Job with training
Job no training
Something else
Likely to apply to University
Very likely
Fairly likely
Not very likely
Not at all likely
Level of Truancy
None
Odd day or lesson
Particular lessons
Several days/weeks
Attitudes to school
Very positive
Quite positive
Quite negative
Very negative
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Probability
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
‘Disengaged from school not education’
(Y9: 23%; Y10: 26%; Y11: 24%)
Aspirations for Year 12
FT Education
Job with training
Job no training
Something else
Likely to apply to University
Very likely
Fairly likely
Not very likely
Not at all likely
Level of Truancy
None
Odd day or lesson
Particular lessons
Several days/weeks
Attitudes to school
Very positive
Quite positive
Quite negative
Very negative
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Probability
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
‘Engaged with school not H.E.’
(Y9: 25%; Y10: 22%; Y11: 22%)
Aspirations for Year 12
FT Education
Job with training
Job no training
Something else
Likely to apply to University
Very likely
Fairly likely
Not very likely
Not at all likely
Level of Truancy
None
Odd day or lesson
Particular lessons
Several days/weeks
Attitudes to school
Very positive
Quite positive
Quite negative
Very negative
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Probability
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
‘Disengaged’
(Y9: 12%; Y10: 19%; Y11: 20%)
Aspirations for Year 12
FT Education
Job with training
Job no training
Something else
Likely to apply to University
Very likely
Fairly likely
Not very likely
Not at all likely
Level of Truancy
None
Odd day or lesson
Particular lessons
Several days/weeks
Attitudes to school
Very positive
Quite positive
Quite negative
Very negative
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Probability
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
Attainment at Key Stage 4
Base: Year 11
Achieved level 2
Achieved level 1
100%
Percent
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Engaged
Disengaged from
school not education
Engaged with school
not Higher Education
Disengaged
Destinations in year 12
Base: Year 11
FT education
Apprenticeship/Work with training
Work without training
NEET
100%
Percent
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Engaged
Disengaged from
school not education
Engaged with School
not Higher Education
Disengaged
Attitudes to curriculum
‘Likes subject a lot’
Base: Year 9
Maths
English
Science
Information, Communication & Technology
60
Percent
50
40
30
20
10
0
Engaged
Disengaged from
school not education
Engaged with School
not Higher Education
Disengaged
Wants a job…
‘Matters a lot’
Base: Year 9
that pays well
that offers promotion
where I am my own boss
100
Percent
80
60
40
20
0
Engaged
Disengaged from
school not education
Engaged with school
not Higher Education
Disengaged
Attitudes to learning
‘Strongly agree’
Base: Year 10
Working hard at school now will help me get on later in life
Doing well at school means a lot to me
Even if I do well at school, I'll have a hard time getting the right kind of job
80
Percent
60
40
20
0
Engaged
Disengaged from
school not education
Engaged with school
not Higher Education
Disengaged
Transitions between years 9 and 10
Year 10
Engaged
Year 9
Disengaged Engaged
from
with School
School not not Higher Disengaged
Education
Education
Engaged
82.4
13.6
4.0
0.1
Disengaged from School
not Education
0.0
87.9
0.0
12.1
Engaged with school not
Higher Education
2.7
1.2
81.6
14.5
Disengaged
0.0
1.5
0.6
97.8
Transitions between years 10 and 11
Year 11
Engaged
Year 10
Disengaged Engaged
from
with School
School not not Higher Disengaged
Education
Education
Engaged
98.0
0.0
1.9
0.1
Disengaged from School
not Education
2.0
92.3
0.0
5.7
Engaged with school not
Higher Education
3.7
0.0
96.0
0.3
Disengaged
0.0
1.6
0.0
98.4
Transitions (summary)
• Most young people already engaged or
disengaged by the time they are in year 9 and
remain so through to year 11
• Transitions mainly occur between year 9 and 10,
the point at which Key Stage 4 begins
Increase in volume and significance of work
Friendship groups split up
• Change is in the direction of disengagement,
with little evidence of reengagement
Young people at greatest risk…
Disengaged from
School not
Education
(DSNE)
Engaged with
School not Higher
Education
(ESNHE)
Disengaged
More male
More male



White
White
Mixed Race


Routine or Manual
Never worked/ Longterm unemployed
Gender
Black Caribbean
Ethnicity


NS-SEC
Never worked/ Longterm unemployed
Never worked/ Longterm unemployed



Intermediate
Intermediate


Lower
Lower


Step family
Single parent
Mother’s education
Single parent
Family Type

Routine or Manual



Step family
Single Parent
Step family



Factors that matter
Parental factors
• Parental aspirations were key (*): Disengaged &
ESNHE
• Attending parent - teacher evenings: Disengaged
• Recognising the importance of continuing
education beyond age 16: ESNHE & Disengaged
• Effectiveness of the relationship with the school:
Disengaged & DSNE
Factors that matter
Homework
• How often parents ensure that homework is
completed:
Parents of young people who were ESNHE more likely to
monitor homework
Parents of Disengaged young people were less likely to
monitor homework
• ESNHE also more likely to get support at home
• How many teachers monitor homework:
Disengaged, less so ESNHE & DSNE
Factors that matter
Teachers
• Young people’s relationships with their teachers:
Disengaged & DSNE, less so ESNHE
Negative factors more important: Feeling treated
unfairly or blamed for any trouble
Positive factors less important: Taking an interest
in the young person’s work or praising them
• Perceiving teachers as being in control also
important for predicting Disengaged and DSNE
Factors that matter
Young Person’s experience
• Aspiration of peers: Disengaged, ESNHE, also DSNE
• Contact with Educational or Social Services, or a visit
from the Police: Disengaged, less so ESNHE & DSNE
• Bullied in the last 12 months: DSNE or Disengaged
• Has a disability that affects schooling: ESNHE or
Disengaged
Factors that matter
Schools
• Pupil to teacher ratio: ESNHE and DSNE more
likely to attend schools with a greater ratio of
pupils to teachers
• School size (number of pupils): ESNHE more
likely to attend smaller schools
• School level of Truancy: Disengaged especially
but also ESNHE more likely to attend schools with
higher rates of truancy
Contact details
Andy Ross
[email protected]
Tel: 020 7549 7101
• Ross, A. (2009) Disengagement from education
among 14-16 year olds, DCSF