RESL.eu Toolkit for identifying and monitoring students and schools at risk of ESL

The toolkit developed as part of the valorisation of the findings by the Reducing Early School Leaving in Europe (RESL.eu) research project aims to support practitioners working with youth in identifying and monitoring students and schools in need of greater care and support. It is primarily focused on the situation of those young people who are at risk of school disengagement and early school leaving. The toolkit is primarily dedicated to school staff: principals, teachers, educators, pedagogical counsellors, class tutors and school psychologists. However, it might be also helpful for other educational specialists working in education policies and in alternative learning pathways.

The toolkit consists of four parts:
The first part introduces the issue of early school leaving. It answers the questions what is the early school leaving phenomenon, what is its scale and why it is considered a problem.
The second part shows how to use data that are often naturally collected at the school (e.g. administrative data) in the process of identifying learners at risk of early school leaving. It provides examples of indicators of distress signals that can be used in that process and discusses how to conduct the identification and monitoring at school. The process of systematic data collection and analysis gives the opportunity to prevent early school leaving and to reengage young people with school by providing them with appropriate care and support on time.
The third part contains the assessment tool which can be helpful in gathering information about the characteristics of students and their families that are relevant to the youngster’s school engagement and educational success. It is focused on factors students’ attitudes and beliefs that might increase the risk of early school leaving and which cannot be determined on the basis of the administrative data already gathered by the school. The questionnaire is preceded by detailed instructions on how to use that tool.
The last part of the toolkit aims to provide information about other valuable projects, tools and inspirations which may be helpful in determining youth at risk of early school leaving, understanding that process and tackling the problem.
The toolkit was developed as a valorisation of the findings from the RESL.eu research project. Detailed information about the research findings supporting this toolkit can be found in the many publications and project papers.