Published October 15, 2025 | Version 1
Report Open

Social Determinants of Underachievement in Europe and Buffering Aspects

Authors/Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Dublin City University
  • 2. Dublin City University Institute of Education
  • 3. ROR icon Ikerbasque
  • 4. Universidad de Deusto
  • 5. University of Deusto
  • 6. University of Malta
  • 7. University of Malta Faculty of Education
  • 8. MHPSS Collaborative
  • 9. ROR icon Tampere University
  • 10. University of Helsinki
  • 11. KMOP
  • 12. ROR icon Newcastle University

Description

This publication reports on the work of the SCIREARLY Horizon Europe consortium, which was formed to address the connected issues of early school leaving and underachievement in Europe. 

SCIREARLY, which was a three-year project funded by the European Commission, focused on enabling children to learn and thrive in school and complete their education. The project recognised the crucial role that schools play in a child’s development and expressed concern over children who struggle or leave school prematurely. This initiative was a collaboration between various institutions from ten different European countries. Its main objectives included conducting research on effective practices in schools and understanding how some educational institutions successfully retain their students, providing them with the best opportunities for learning and well-being.

This report is presented as the final outcome of WP1 of the SCIREARLY Project which deals social determinants of educational underachievement in Europe and buffering aspects. The work package set itself the objectives of:

• Analysing the social determinants and root causes of underachievement and school dropout at primary and secondary education level.

• Mapping successful and less successful policies targeting the achievement gap from a comparative perspective.

 

In the conceptualisation of this work package, it was designed to be a series of steps each building on the other. Firstly, in Section 1 the consortium analysed ESL and academic underachievement and the many complex and interlocking causes of both.

In Section 2, the field of analysis was the remarkable range of policies, interventions, and indeed the massive resources which have been deployed across the EU to tackle these problems, which to many had become endemic and perhaps, insoluble. Very positively, In Section 2 it is noted that all this effort has yielded impressive results in very many countries.

Yet in Section 3, the dialogic seminars, the key questions are the vital ones for the future. How can this progress be maintained and developed further; how can it spread to those countries whose progress has been slow; and perhaps, most of all, can we avoid a return to the worst of these failures in the context of increasing levels of immigrants and refugees to be integrated into societies and education systems. To tackle this key question, Section 3 brings together a wide range of opinion and expertise to seek the best ways forward.

Therefore, the final section of this report attempts to integrate the research and findings of the three earlier sections, not merely to report the main findings from each, but also to build on them, not only by recognising the progress that has been made but by identifying existing policies and interventions that can be expanded and also new approaches and ideas.

Files

SCIREARLY_D1.1_Social determinants of underachievement and ESL_Final.pdf

Files (14.6 MB)

Additional details

Funding

European Commission
SCIREARLY 101061288

Dates

Copyrighted
2025-10-15

Software

Development Status
Active