Those who abandon school before they turn 16 are five times more likely to take antidepressants than those who remain in formal education longer – 15 per cent compared to three per cent.
The most frequent reason for taking this medication is to help deal with anxiety and depression, according to the initial findings of a three-year research project funded by the President’s Foundation for the Well-being of Society.
Early school leavers are defined as 18- to 24-year-olds who are not in education, training and apprenticeship and who failed to obtain five SEC exams, some of who drop out of school before the compulsory cycle ends.
These youngsters experience increased negative emotions, often feeling “so down in the dumps that nothing can cheer them up”. In contrast, Maltese who end their education later more frequently experience positive emotions, reporting they feel “full of life”, happy and have “lots of energy”.
“Given our daily experiences and reading around the subject, we were well aware of the long-term difficulties early school leavers encounter. However, we were surprised by the significant correlations of early school leaving with such a wide range of indicators of well-being,” Prof. Carmel Borg, from the university’s Faculty of Education, said.
“We were particularly impressed by the pessimistic outlook on life early school leavers harbour,” he added.
Prof. Borg and Dr Milosh Raykov, the researchers working on this project, sifted through existing data to explore the impact early school leaving has on individuals’ well-being; a dynamic rarely addressed in key studies. The merit of this study lies in the fact that it pulled many threads together to provide a coherent picture of the link between early school leaving and aspects of well-being.
Unfortunately, Prof. Brog added, crucial data which could inform policy and practice was often lost through fragmentation and dispersal of knowledge.
This study attempts to identify these gaps and ultimately pave the way for equitable access to lifelong learning. It comes just as the European Commission released its latest report on Thursday saying that the rate of early school leavers and poor basic skills proficiency was hindering Malta’s long-term improvement in education and training.
The island’s early school leaving rate runs at a staggering level of 20.4 per cent
The island’s early school leaving rate runs at a staggering level of 20.4 per cent, the second highest in Europe and well above the EU average of 11.3 per cent.
Malta’s ambitious target is to halve this by 2020. Given the latest trends, Prof. Borg and Dr Raykov conclude that optimistically, and if the situation remained unchanged, it was more likely that halving the rate of early school leavers to 10 per cent would be reached by 2025. The results emerging from the first part of this research demonstrate strong associations between early school leaving and well-being, regardless of age.
Titled ‘Early school leaving and well-being in Malta and beyond: A statistical analysis’, the document synthesising the findings of the first phase of the study will be launched on December 3.
The second phase, which starts later this year, will engage early school leavers in one-on-one conversations around the themes generated by initial findings, while the third part plans to provide signposts for a holistic policy on early school leaving.
Prof. Borg said this research confirmed findings from other studies that early school leavers experienced serious financial difficulties, received significantly lower incomes and shows that the differences in income increase during their working life.
Early school leavers often feel socially excluded and a considerable number, 24 per cent, believe people look down on them because of their job.The study also supports the assumption that the impact of early school leaving is not always immediate and direct but, over time, may lead to a more rapid deterioration of health and well-being.
As a result of their educational attainment, working and living conditions, the majority of early school leavers believe their status in society is low.
This is often associated with low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence which, together with limited access to education and training-related resources, significantly restricts their capacity to re-engage in formal education.
What was the way forward?
“Education is no panacea. However, high quality pre-school and compulsory education contribute to equity and inclusion; it includes an emotional environment that is welcoming to all – secure, accepting, appreciative, participative, supportive and collaborative in nature.”