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Bearing in mind that early school leaving (ESL) / early leaving from education and training (ELET) is a political problem, this article looks at early school leaving in Portugal, focusing on its realities, contexts and practices and tapping into the interaction between the national and the European levels and their guidelines for education. The context of the problem and its evolution is briefly analyzed. Following the description of the education system, we also provide some reflections on current educational lines, providing evidence on how inclusion is implemented within such lines. Finally, intramural measures are proposed with a view to addressing early school leaving in an upper secondary school located in an educational area of priority intervention. The objective of the article is to analyze early school leaving by making the voices of different stakeholders heard--the school principal, teachers and students--following the implementation of a set of educational measures. These measures are preventive and include preparation for exams and the function of student advocates, two aspects which have a prominent role in this article. We argue that the struggle against ESL lies in the tension between economic policies and the knowledge society and the promotion of social inclusion which requires the definition of educational trajectories aimed at providing young people with the necessary tools for them to make adequate decisions for their future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 20 years, Early School Leaving (ESL) in Portugal has registered a significant decrease. In order to understand the reasons for this trend towards improvement, this paper conducts an analysis of anti-ESL measures implemented in diverse educational institutions. The main objective is to understand how mainstream and alternative education can learn from each other in terms of increasing school engagement and reducing ESL. The analysis is guided by the intention to go beyond individual-oriented views of ESL and focus on wider institutional and structural issues. To achieve an in-depth understanding of these measures, interviews took place with several educational stakeholders (principals, teachers and students), and focus group discussions were conducted with students and teachers. The findings suggest that, in both mainstream and alternative educational institutions, measures to combat ESL tend to be designed and implemented in a top-down way, rather than built on the basis of young people's lived experiences and needs. However, differences were also identified, suggesting that alternative models of education seem to be rooted in a more comprehensive view of ESL, and to better adapt to the challenges that young people experience in their daily lives. Consequently, mainstream education could follow the example of alternative institutions, and develop more comprehensive anti-ESL measures, which do not focus solely on students' presumed "deficits", but seek to tackle wider systemic inadequacies. In terms of policy recommendations, the findings suggest that both mainstream and alternative education could benefit from greater exchange between institutions of inspirational policies and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses Early School Leaving (ESL) as a phenomenon that is identified in the EU and European countries such as Portugal as being the result of school disaffection that can be associated with social and educational problems. The relevance of this problem at the European level is highlighted by the large number of European guidelines on the matter and by the inclusion of ESL as one of the main questions to be addressed by the Horizon 2020. Based on interviews, this article questions possible relationships between how principals perceive both ESL and the measures to deal with it and the culture of the school as an identity of differentia specifica (ethos). It should be emphasised that the approaches of these principals to ESL and the school‐based practices addressing it are quite diverse and relate to the ethos of the schools; students' trajectories and the complex relationship between education and the labour market. The principals manifest their investment and implication in the provision of adequate measures for their specific contexts and see teachers and external partners as key actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]