Probing Beneath the Iceberg: An Exploration of Factors Attributed to Offenders’ School Dropout in South Africa

The high rate of offenders’ school dropout in South Africa and worldwide stresses the need for in-depth studies to explore its causes. While numerous studies highlight adult and juvenile offenders’ exorbitant formal school dropout rate, little has been done to probe beneath this ‘dropout iceberg.’ This paper sought to explore the factor(s) to which offenders’ formal school dropout rate can be attributed. From the interpretivist epistemological stance, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five (5) purposively sampled adult offenders to address the question: What factors cause adult offenders’ formal school dropout in South African correctional centre facilities? Framed within the case study research design, the study inferred findings from the thematic approach toward data analysis. Huttler’s (2000) wellness model was used as the framework underpinning the study. Emanating from data collected were four prominent yet intertwined factors to which offender formal school dropout could be attributed, i.e., institutional hurdles to offenders’ formal school, language barrier as the demoralizing factor for offenders who are not competent in the instructional language, correctional officers’ attitudes towards education and unacceptable remarks towards offenders as well as prison situational factors. The researchers recommend using multilingual pedagogies, restructuring the draft transfer policy, and correctional officers’ workshops whose central focus is the importance of correctional education in the rehabilitation process.