Analysis of leaving formal education at high school education level on various variables (Example of Malatya province)

In this study, it was aimed to determine the current situation of the students who have gone out of formal education at high school education level and the reasons for leaving the school in terms of various variables, and also to determine the views of the administrators and teachers about the arrangement which allows high school education to continue as open education instead of formal education. The population of the descriptive research was consisted of 320 students enrolled in open education high schools who were examined in 6 different schools and also 20 administrators and 50 teachers working in different school types at high school education level, in the central districts of Malatya (Battalgazi, Yeşilyurt), in 2016-2017 academic year. Purposive sampling and cluster sampling methods were used for sampling. The data in the mixed design were collected by "High School Abandonment Questionnaire", and semi-structured interview form. The views of the students were gathered by a 18-item questionnaire which is developed by Karacabey (2016) and while the views of administrators and teachers were taken by a semi-structured questionnaire developed by the researcher which includes 8 questions. The data of the study were subjected to frequency values and chi-square tests. While calculating the frequency values for the demographic variables, the relationship between some demographic variables and the reasons for leaving the school was determined by the chi- square test. The data obtained by qualitative method were subjected to content analysis. The results of the current study were seen; in Malatya province, 9,4% of students at high school education level are in open education, the majority of these students are consisted of female, 9th grade, vocational-technical and Anatolian high school students, with families consisted of 4-5 people who are low educational background status. Although "financial difficulties" and "academic failure" were emphasized as a common reasons for both male and female students, the different reasons were emerged for them as the reason of "I dislike school" in male students and "family obstruction" in female students. The difference between the opinions of the administrators and teachers regarding the regulation made by Law No. 6287 was appeared, and the majority of the administrators evaluated the regulation positively; others stressed that they found it negatively because of the dramatic increase in the number of drop-outs. The vast majority of teachers, unlike the administrators, evaluated the regulation negatively; others stated it positively because the law prevents students who do not want to attend school from affecting the negatively the motivation of other students. Some suggestions for preventing leaving school in high school level, include the development of early intervention programs, the monitoring of holistic policies by different ministries, and the establishment of a follow-up system in order to prevent non-formal education. Keywords: Open Education, High School Student, School Dropout, High School Education, Out of Formal Education.