Dr. Elena Lavrentsova, Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Petar Valkov, Assist. Prof.
Faculty of Education
Trakia University
Abstract. In the paper attention is drawn to the phenomenon of early school leaving, which is regarded through the prism of the stratification mechanisms in the field of secondary school education in Bulgaria. A special emphasis is placed on educational segregation, related to a widening of the gap between different types of Bulgarian schools. The authors present the data of an empirical study on the opinions of secondary school students in Bulgaria about the early school leaving phenomenon, attempting to highlight a number of risk determinants that trigger school failure as a consequence of certain life and educational trajectories. It is emphasized that both a profound understanding of the risk factors, associated with early school leaving, and potential remedies should be considered in the context of a much broader socio-structural framework and a horizon of sociocultural meanings, including those, related to ethnicity. The paper concludes with a description of some main tools for prevention within the socio-existential perspective.
Keywords: education; early school leaving; inclusion
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