ABSTRACT
The chapter presents an analysis of the educational trajectories of Warsaw youth, trying to investigate early school leaving in relation to the school disengagement process. We recognise school (dis)engagement in two ways. First, as a process within the educational trajectory of the individual in which various factors interplay in many configurations and periods of time. Second, as an observable manifestation of the disengagement process, with a focus on its components (behavioural, cognitive and affective). Because the process of school disengagement is most visible in those educational trajectories which are fragmented, non-linear (turbulent), we have concentrated on the analysis of educational trajectories of those who experienced leaving school early. To further illuminate and organise the studied examples of turbulent trajectories, and to make our analysis more figurative, we use the metaphor of a sea journey. We distinguished five trajectory types denominated as: struggling against the waves, saved by someone, taking another course, cast away, falling in the hands of pirates. The categories that differentiate trajectory types are a school disengagement process (its strength, components, levels), as well as the characteristic configurations of protective and risk factors. The analysis is based on individual in-depth biographical interviews conducted among 40 young people living or studying in Warsaw.
