Individual and institutional reasons of school dropout in secondary education: Şanlıurfa case

The purpose of this study is to examine the school dropouts in secondary education. In this sense, depending upon opinions of secondary school students; social, educational, organizational and individual parameters affecting school dropout process and individual justifications of leaving the school were investigated and an integrated solution was proposed. The population of the study is composed of students leaving the secondary school between 2014-2016, in the province of Şanlıurfa and its central districts. In the study, a mixed model has been adopted. Findings of the study has revealed that student background and demographic features as a part of individual factors; family structure, human and financial resources, school composition and peer relations as a part of institutional parameters were emerged as the main effective factors in explanation of secondary school dropout. At political level, integrated policies produced by different ministries are needed to create a coherent political perspective fort he solution. As a part of coherent political perspective, extra curricular activities coordinated by local representatives of the ministries, improvement of school family partnership also by focusing on Conditional Cash Transfer for Education Program, reaarengement of curriculum structures for secondary school systems and placing school dropout as a critical problem for school improvement programs are some proposals to be put into practice.