Abstract
School dropout has negative effects on children’s future prospects. This is not just a South African challenge, but global one. Children who drop out of school are likely to be economically excluded in the mainstream economy. These children are at risk of being trapped in the cycle of poverty for the rest of their lives. It is therefore important to develop means to encourage such learners to return to school. The study thus intended to investigate and learn directly from those learners who dropped out and subsequently returned to school. It was thought that understanding what factors helped participants return to school might generate insights to curb the phenomenon of school dropping. While the issue of school dropout is widely researched, there are limited investigations on what factors promote returning to school. To investigate these factors, the researcher explored the role of personal, familial/interpersonal and environmental resilience processes in enabling dropped-out participants to return to school. To carry out the investigation, 12 young women, aged 17 to 22, who had dropped out of school for at least a year and then returned at least six months prior the study were purposively sampled. Phenomenological methods were used to analyse the data. The personal, familial/interpersonal and environmental protective factors played a role in helping the participants to return to school. These themes were separated and categorised into six categories of resilience factors, viz., strong desire for success, self-motivation, encouragement and support from family members, support from friends and peers, support from church, school and teachers, and support from community members. This study contributes to the under-researched body of literature on the resilience factors that enable dropped-out learners to return to school. The study is also useful in recommending strategies on how teachers and social workers can assist dropped out learners to return to school.
M.A. (Social Work)