This text is part of the special notebook Listening to social causes
The practices of school perseverance workers from the Montreal organization Perspectives jeunesse help 700 young people to avoid dropping out of school. A new report proves their methods work.
According to a report from the Ministry of Education, more than 10,000 students, or 13.8%, left high school in Quebec without obtaining a diploma or qualification during the 2020-2021 school year. It is to help these young people that the Montreal organization Perspectives jeunesse has developed the Option program. Each year, 700 young people benefit from the support of school perseverance workers (IPS). A recent report, produced in collaboration with the University of Montreal (UdeM), supported these intervention practices by measuring their impact on young people.
The organization has been offering the Option program for 20 years now, to prevent school dropouts. It is offered in 12 partner public schools in which 13 school perseverance and anxiety prevention workers are present daily. For Louis-Philippe Sarrazin, general director of the Perspectives jeunesse organization, it is this presence that makes the program special.
Deeply touched by the great vulnerability that lies behind the problems of behavior and absenteeism, Mr. Sarrazin maintains that no young person really leaves school by choice. It is possible to “reduce the dropout rate if we provide the support and psychosocial monitoring that they need,” continues the general director of the Montreal organization.
Several reasons explain the disengagement of students, as explained by Élodie Marion, professor in the Department of educational psychology and andragogy at the University of Montreal, co-author of the report evaluating the Option program. This can be linked to relational, family, emotional problems, anxiety… This is where the strength of the community’s contribution lies, because the IPS of the Option program can quickly support the student, whatever is the cause of disengagement, she said. Follow-ups are quick and start as soon as the young person requests it, continues the researcher.
“Our objective is to work on everything that surrounds these young people in their personal life, their family life, to give them the confidence and well-being necessary to meet the demands of the school environment. This is truly the success of our model,” confides Louis-Philippe Sarrazin.
Effective intervention practices
Giving young people the power to act is a practice that proves effective, if we are to believe Élodie Marion. The latter indeed occupies a central place in improving one’s academic perseverance, both in the formulation of objectives and in decision-making. The IPS therefore focus on the aspects that the young person wishes to work on, on what they have “identified as being a priority”, because this is part of the success of the intervention. Sometimes, the school’s priority is to ensure that the student attends it every day, while this is not always feasible, underlines Mme Marion. Involving young people in decision-making related to their career path promotes their autonomy and commitment. An individualized approach centered on one’s desire is therefore crucial to guarantee the success of the intervention, further indicates the researcher.
The presence of IPS in the school environment is a key factor of success, emanating from their availability, and their ability to evolve between the school and community structure. Whatever the type of worker, their presence on site helps to establish a climate of trust, to know the young person, which allows them to feel supported and listened to, indicates Mme Marion. This is also what the Option program speakers revealed to him. Before beginning personalized follow-up with the young person, they first participated in numerous activities at school, in the intervention environment. This promotes the success of the intervention subsequently, maintains the researcher, “which does not happen when [il s’agit] of a meeting in the office of a professional that the young person does not necessarily want to go to, when he does not know him and is a little on his guard.”
Collaboration between stakeholders and other teaching professionals is an important practice, as highlighted in the report evaluating the program. “What works in terms of collaboration and which was observed for the Option program are the so-called pivotal stakeholders whose role is to oversee the collaboration, coordinate or mediate between the different parties”, i.e. parents, teachers, management and other professionals or stakeholders. This has a positive effect, because this pivotal worker will then be able to guide the young person. In addition, this prevents him from having to repeat his story to the various actors, concludes the researcher.
A proven program
The report co-written by Élodie Marion assesses the impact of the practices of school perseverance workers (IPS) on young people considered to be at risk of dropping out of school. This quantitative analysis concerns 34 young people who benefited from the help of an IPS in 2022-2023, interviewed before and after a follow-up lasting an average of 186 days.
The report shows that the majority of young people followed by an IPS had the feeling of improving their attendance and their academic motivation (62%). Administrative data shows that 71% of them were present on average more than 75% of the time at the end of the school year.
The majority of young people also saw an improvement in their academic results, which for many represented a reason for referral to IPS. In addition, the report shows an improvement in the feeling of academic competence for 40% of young people.
Other indicators, such as the relational and belonging climate, reveal an improvement between the start and the end of follow-up. This is the case for students’ behavioral engagement and their relationship with teachers.
Support from IPS also led to improvements in personal life, allowing a majority of young people to improve their interpersonal relationships. The report notably shows an average increase of 18.5% in their general well-being score between the start and the end of monitoring for all. The life satisfaction score also increased on average and the young people’s perception of their quality of life was also more positive.
Finally, the objectives pursued with young people regarding school perseverance were achieved in full for 68%, according to the IPS and for 50% of young people.
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