Opinions of the students with and without tendency to drop out about school dropout: A case study

School dropout is a phenomenon that has many economic, social and individual consequences and is undesirable by countries. The purpose of this research is to understand the opinions of students with and without a tendency to drop out, studying at an Anatolian high school in a city in the Central Anatolia region, about themselves, their immediate environment, school life and school dropout. The participants of the study consist of 20 students studying at an Anatolian high school in a city in the Central Anatolia region in the 2022-2023 academic year and two open education high school students. In the research, the case study model, one of the qualitative research methods, was adopted and semi-structured observations and interviews were used as data collection tools. According to the results of the research, considering the views about themselves and their immediate surroundings, it was seen that their individual perceptions, friendships, and employment status were related to thoughts of dropping out of school. It can be said that the students are mostly satisfied with the physical and social conditions of the school, but they think that the school is inadequate in academic terms. According to students' opinions, the factor that most causes school dropout is school failure. Within the scope of the results obtained, it was suggested that students should be more informed about formal education and open education and that physical and social conditions of schools in rural areas should be improved.