Early School Leaving: A Theoretical and Empirical Approach

The purpose of the presented article here is to provide insight into the problem of Early School Leaving in Austria, and draws on European and international literature to examine causes and consequences for Early School Leaving. Early results of a qualitative study are being discussed in the empirical part of the article. Based on 25 qualitative interviews with young adolescents, seven different types of Early School Leavers are identified. In this article, we describe the "ambitious" and the "status-orientated" types in more detail. The research results underline the importance of social capital for educational careers of pupils from lower social origin as well as Bourdieu's assertion that habitus is attenuated by education and information, which allows a construction of types beyond determinism.