ABSTRACT

A great deal of previous studies on early school leavers have concentrated on the individual characteristics of young people and neglecting the social relations that cause them to drop out. This chapter highlights the importance of and the way in which the social relations between young people with significant people in their immediate social environment, e.g. relationships with family members, the school staff and their friends, affect their educational expectations. In line with earlier research, we have assumed that the educational expectations of students are a crucial predicator of early school leaving (failure, frustration and, ultimately, disengagement and dropout), i.e. having fewer educational expectations predicts a higher risk of ESL.

The data used in this study were collected in schools in marginalized urban areas of Sweden during the period 2014–2016 as a part of the RESL.eu project in Sweden. By using a mixed-methods approach with both survey material, in-depth interviews and participant observation in a selected group of schools, we have tried to highlight these complex relationships between social relations and educational expectations.

As our results demonstrate, these relationships and the social capital they provide play an important role in forming the educational expectations of young people.