TEACHERS` REPRESENTATIONS AND BELIEFS ON EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING

Children` participation to education is an important concern for the entire educational system, for policy makers, but also for organizations, institutions, employers, etc. interested in what is happening in education, without necessarily being part of this system. With the intention of contributing to promptly identify students in early school leaving situation and to operatively intervene, extensive research was launched within the Erasmus+ Project “Active Cross-sectoral Cooperation for Educational and Social Success” (A.C.C.E.S.S.), having as target-group teachers and students from the four partner countries - Italy, Portugal, Lithuania and Romania. The research circumscribed a quantitative approach, consisting in the development and administration of two questionnaires - one addressed to teachers and the other addressed to students and to those who leave the school early, and a qualitative approach, conducted by the method of interview-based survey, in the case of students and by organizing focus groups with teachers. One of the aspects with a strong impact on the motivation and involvement / engagement of students in the educational process and, implicitly, on the management of the ESL phenomenon is represented by the representations / beliefs of the school managers / teachers / students. That is why part of our research has focused on investigating teachers' perceptions on these beliefs and representations