Frafald fra erhvervsuddannelserne: - mod en mere nuanceret forståelse

The high dropout rate of students in vocational education and training (VET) has been considered a serious problem in policy of education in the last decade in Denmark as well as in the other Nordic countries. In the Danish VET system only half of the students, who take up a vocational pro-gramme, complete the programme. The dropout rate has stayed on a high level despite a large num-ber of initiatives to increase retention. This article argues, that the problem lies not only with the measures to reduce dropout, but also in the conceptualisation of the dropout phenomenon. We ex-amine the concept of dropout and argue that the concept covers a range of different strategies among students in vocational education. Empirically the article is based on a large interview study among vocational students in Denmark. In addition the article is based on international research that uses a process-related concept of dropout, which we connect to research in young people school to work transitions. In this conceptualisation dropout is seen as the result of the interplay over time between the transition system, young people’s conditions of life and young people’s own strategies and choices