Abstract
Background: While enrolment in basic education in South Africa is almost universal, there is a high rate of learners dropping out of school before achieving the matriculation certificate. This attrition undermines the issue of human-capital development, perpetuates the levels of inequality in the country and restricts the realization of Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education. Earlier studies have investigated individual factors like poverty, teenage pregnancy and poor school infrastructure, but a gap in the research has been how the social-economic, cultural and educational determinants combine to form the drop-out patterns from the perspectives of both learners and educators.
Aim: The aim of this dissertation was to examine the perspectives of out-of-school youths and teachers regarding the socio-economic, cultural, and educational issues that determine school drop-out in South Africa.
Methods: The study adopted an exploratory, qualitative design located within an interpretivist paradigm. Ten out-of-school youth aged 15-25 years and five educators from Doornkop, Gauteng were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The sample was snowball- and purposively sampled. Thematic analysis was conducted on the data through the six stages of the Braun and Clarke framework, while analysis of the findings was guided by Ecological Systems Theory, Human Capital Theory and Social Reproduction Theory.
Findings: Findings established that socio-economic factors such as structural poverty and, food insecurity; cultural factors such as teenage pregnancy and community expectations surrounding school leaving; educational factors such as poor school infrastructure, ineffective relationships between learners and teachers, and lack of psychosocial support services; and family factors such as household instability and child-headed households, are the factors interacting to result in school drop-out.
Conclusion: The study culminated in the development of the multi-level model which demonstrates how the socio-economic, cultural, family, and educational factors interact dynamically to influence school drop-out in a South Africa township context. This model forms the analytical core of the study and offers a theoretical basis of a series of multi-level recommendations that can be offered to educators, school administrators, and policymakers aimed at reducing drop-out rates and promoting inclusive and equitable education in South Africa.