The Early Leaving Rate from Education and Training reached the lowest value ever in 2019. According to data recently released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in Portugal, the “early school dropout” was 10,6 %, reaching 10,1% on the mainland.
"These results show how the country has had a remarkable evolution in what is considered by the European Commission as one of the main performance indicators of educational systems", stresses the Ministry of Education in a statement sent to the newsrooms.
In 2018, Portugal had already evolved very favorably – from 12,6% to 11,8% – reaching, in 2019, a result that places the country closer to the European target – 10% by 2020.
“This situation is even more positive considering that it coincides with a very considerable increase in youth employment in recent years, as it could be a stimulus for the non-continuation of studies by this fringe of the population,” adds the Ministry.
Two decades ago, when this indicator began to be calculated, according to a common methodology on a European scale, Portugal recorded values close to 50% of early school leaving and exceeded the European average by about 30%.
In a context of stagnation of this indicator on a European scale, in recent years, Portugal has managed to counteract this trend and improve its results. Thus, if both trends continue – with Portugal reducing its dropout rate (which is already a fact, with the data currently known) and the European average remaining stagnant – the country will have, for the first time, a value of early school leaving equal to or lower than the European Union average.
The Ministry of Education “salutes the educational communities for yet another success of the education and training system, highlighting the need to pursue this path, namely, through the deepening of various initiatives that have translated into positive results in the fight against abandonment”.
Examples are, the Ministry note adds, «the TEIP (Educational Territories for Priority Intervention) program, the National Program for the Promotion of School Success, the Specific Tutorial Support, the commitment to Professional Education and Inclusive Education, and Autonomy and Curriculum Flexibility, among others».
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