Understanding student dropout risk: A qualitative study

Abstract

A qualitative study on understanding student dropout risk was developed due to the increasing number of students leaving school at Dalaguete National High School, Dalaguete, Cebu, Philippines, a problem that the school faces and probably the rest of high schools worldwide. The study used a qualitative approach in multiple cases, a non-probability sampling method, which is the purposive sampling to understand the life of the one hundred fifteen (115) determined grade 9 students dropout risk in the school, their families, and the community. It sought to determine the student’s learning experiences and their influences on the participants’ academic performance. The most common learning experiences of students at risk of dropping out coming from all the participants’ learning experiences pointed out negative peer influences, coming from broken families, economic problems, and school factors that triggered tardiness and absenteeism to being demotivated to participate in all school learning activities. With these findings, an intervention program was proposed to bring back the students’ motivation to stay in school and finish their studies. Completing this study benefitted not only the students but also the school and stakeholders. The researcher is hopeful that the study’s outcomes will lead to continual research on dropout problems in the school, leading to ZERO dropout cases in all schools nationwide.