Quitting School: The Voices and Recommendations of Canadian Francophone Youths on How to Deal With the Problem

By:
Dr. Daniel Cote
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There is a strong link between a country’s social and economic well-being and literacy of its population, yet recent Canadian estimates show that at least 12% of the country’s students do not finish high school. In this province-wide qualitative study, Franco-Ontarian youths expressed their views on why youths disengage from school before completing their studies. Micro-level factors such as household stress and family conflict, as well as competing priorities of earning money while trying to obtain an education, were cited having a major impact on their ability to complete high school. At another level, Francophone youths described a weak connection between school curriculum and their life and career plans as key reasons for losing interest in school. The youths also identified passive instructional strategies as failing to adapt to their learning pace and styles.

Major recommendations from youths for dealing with early school leaving included a multi-dimensional approach. Youths’ suggestions included radical shifts in the curriculum to make school subjects more interesting and matched to their life ambitions, more individualized teaching, varied teaching methods, and changing the way that teachers are chosen and their performance evaluated.


Keywords: Early school leaving, literacy and socio-economic integration, qualitative research
Stream: Economic Sustainability
Presentation Type: 30 minute Paper Presentation in English
Paper: Dropping out of School

Dr. Daniel Cote

Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, Laurentian University
Sudbury, Ontario, CANADA

A life-long resident of Northern Ontario, Dr. Cote's doctoral dissertation studied the power strategies employed by staff during turbulent organizational change in a mental health context. Dr. Cote has held various clinical and senior administrative positions in health and mental health settings Northern and rural Ontario. He has used telemedicine technology extensively for providing direct clinical services, administrative planning and linkages with health partners across the North, and in educational/learning situations.

Since 2003, Daniel has been Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Laurentian University. He is a member of Laurentian’s Research & Ethics Board as well as the Academic Council of the Faculty of Professional Schools. He also is on the Board of Directors of the Children’s Aid Society of the Districts of Sudbury/Manitoulin, Ontario.

Daniel’s current research interests include psychiatry and mental health,
the study of pathways for obtaining services, consent to treatment, standards of professional practice and regulation, administration and management of hospitals and mental health services, and organizational change in the human services sector.

Ref: S07P0138