Reasons behind dropouts in adult education: a survey with students of private English language course in İstanbul

Abstract

Dropouts are a serious problem with adult educational institutions in Turkey. Dropout students either cancel their registration before they complete the school, or they stop attending to the classes. Statistics released by the State Institute of Statistics Devlet İstatistik Enstitüsü-DİE has shown the great gap between the number of the adults starting an English course and the number of adults completing the course. Dropouts have been an important and detrimental factor affecting the eventual success of adult education programs. So far, quite a few number of studies have been done in order to pinpoint the reasons leading the students to drop out courses they have started. As a result of these international and national studies, some reasons have been identified to be important on student dropouts from adult education programs. Some researchers grouped reasons for dropping out according to trends based on: psycho-social variables such as goal-setting, motivation, personality, resistance, interaction patterns, life change, and commitment; socio-economic/demographic variables such as gender, race, employment, age, family members, and income/poverty level; situational variables such as childcare and transportation needs; academic variables such as last grade attended, educational status, placement level, ability, and testing scores; and institutional variables such as class time, format, numbers, location, instructor, and recruitment procedures. In order to find out more about the reasons the participant adults to English language schools in İstanbul, Turkey stated, a questionnaire has been developed. The reasons in the questionnaire came through review of literature on dropout studies and by browsing through petitions given to school administrations by students to cancel their registration. Moreover, interviews carried out with educational consultants and directors provided some other reasons to be included in the questionnaire. The questionnaire has been applied in the pilot study, and some adjustments made under the supervision of the professors advising the study. The final form of the questionnaire then has been applied to 283 individuals from various conveniently selected private English language schools in İstanbul. The results of the questionnaire have been analyzed using various statistical techniques including T-test and One-Way ANOVA, and Scheffe. It has been found that the foremost reasons to drop out the courses were about lack of time. A considerable percentage of the respondents stated they couldn't find time either for the course or studying. It also became clear that expectations of some students have not been satisfactorily met by the schools, which in turn leads to dropping out. Moreover, a majority of students mentioned not being able to find time for social activities and dropped out the schools. Finally, demographic characteristics such as gender, age, level of education, marital status, employment status, level of income, and source of payment have been influential on the proximity of the reasons stated.