Dropping out in Hungary: Teachers’ perceptions

Anikó Fehérvári

Summary:  The theoretical background of this paper is provided by studies on dropping out and leaving school early. The article also builds on various international and Hungarian data collections, presenting the Hungarian situation and trends, and the student, organisation, school and system factors that influence dropping out. The paper provides an analysis of data from a questionnaire-based survey conducted in 2018 in 83 schools. Schools were chosen based on the rate of students at risk of dropping out. The study aims to explore the school (teaching) practices in these schools and identify risk factors that may increase or decrease the chances of leaving school early. The paper focuses on one dimension of this complex research problem: the question of the school and teachers taking responsibility. The results indicate that teachers’ perceptions of problems are proportionate to the rate of students at risk of dropping out in their schools. Teachers believe that schools and teachers have an important role in preventing student dropout. However, they consider dropout to be a bigger problem in schools other than their own, and they believe that other actors (parents, society, the media) are more responsible than teachers for student dropout.