Workshops to constrast school leavers: Results of a project in the schools of Mantua

Abstract

This article shows results of a pilot study carried out during school year2013-2014 to contrast school leaving in Mantua, in the Lombardy region. Inline with Europe 2020 objectives, the aim was to experiment new methodologies able to reduce the phenomenon of school leaving during grade IV of high school. Although with different modalities, in three institutes of Mantua work experience and contemporaneous weekly boundary crossing workshops were provided. In the workshops participated the selected students,teachers and representatives of industry. Over the workshops the groups discussed the issues students were having between school and work and topics concerning entrepreneurship. Results show improvements in the indicators chosen to represent the students' intention to continue their studies, but with substantial differences according to the setting. However,a common worry emerging from this research is that half of the students declared that they have at least one teacher that they cannot stand.