Tackling early leaving from education and training in Europe

This joint Eurydice/Cedefop report published in Dec 2014 looks at early leaving from education and training (ELET) from different angles, providing an overview of some of the main issues involved. It highlights the high costs for society of students leaving education and training early as well as the consequences for individuala. A higher level of education, on the other hand, can lead to a series of positive outcomes for individuals as well as society related to employment, higher salaries, better health, less crime, higher social cohesion, lower public and social costs and higher productivity and growth.
Education and career guidance is one of the key measures against early leaving in many European countries. Guidance is therefore an important element in prevention, intervention and compensation initiatives.
Countries implement a variety of measures to address early leaving from vocation educational training (VET). VET in itself is considered to be a measure in the ELET arena, not least because many early leavers from both general and vocational education choose VET if/when they return to learning. Thus VET systems accommodate large numbers of learners who have either dropped out or decided to change their studies from one course, provider or type of learning to another.