Factores escolares de riesgo y buenas prácticas en abandono escolar desde la perspectiva de un grupo de educadoras y educadores sociales

This research aimed to identify school-based risk factors for early school leaving, as well as good practices implemented in different secondary schools that can prevent this phenomenon. A qualitative and sociocritical approach was used, forming a focus group with representatives of five social education professionals.There is a problematic situation in today’s Spanish society: a proportion of young people aged 18 to 24 have dropped out of school without being able to obtain an official qualification that would allow them adequate social and labor integration, with repercussions on their quality of life.In Spain, the early school leaving rate is 13% in 2024, 8.9 points lower (40.7%) than ten years earlier (21.9 in 2014) and, although the gap with the European Union average has also narrowed (from 10.8 points in 2014 to 3.5 points in 2024), it remains one of the highest, only below Romania (16.6%) according to 2023 data.As a result, some interesting school factors were identified, which can be categorized as school-related factors, such as low student participation, and factors of the general education system, such as its lack of flexibility. Regarding good educational practices, some interesting initiatives and programs are mentioned, such as the service-learning methodology or the learning communities educational model. The research confirms that perceptions from a social education perspective coincide with aspects already developed in other research and scientific productions.Knowledge of these results may have implications for the way schools are organized and managed, with the aim of improving school engagement among the most vulnerable students.