A prophecy foretold? Adult’s dropout from education and training
courses, seen from their life histories.
Laura Marrocos1 and Helena Quintas2
Abstract
This article presents the life histories of adults who attended, and later
abandoned, education courses and adult education. The subjects attended
courses in adult education and training in three different areas of a city in the
Algarve, Loulé, situated in southern Portugal. Given that it is adults who have
experienced situations of school failure along their paths of schooling, the main
objective of this study was to understand whether the perception of school
failure eventually built throughout their life histories, conditioned the decision to
continue or “dropout” from the processes of education and training in which they
were involved.
Introduction
The Education and Training Courses (ETC), responsibility of the National
Agency for Education and Training (ANEFA)3, created in Portugal in mid-2000,
invested in the necessary response to the problem of lack of schooling and
qualification of the national population.
Intended for employed adults, and also unemployed, aged over 18 years and
whom had not completed their regular schooling, this proposed educational/
training is characterized by “providing an answer that combines education and
training” having also features that distinguish them from earlier proposals for
education and training for adult audiences. Among them is the type of training
they provide and the characteristics of the curriculum that is developed
(Quintas, 2008, p.94).
The routing for these courses is made in accordance with the qualifications of
the adults, which is the main requirement for access. According to the types of
schooling/teaching – B1, B2, B3 and ES (which correspond to the different
levels of education of the Portuguese educational system) – school and / or also
professional certification is provided to the adults who enter this educational and
training proposal. Thus, it is assumed, an approach of global training, where
education and training are developed in parallel in the same educational project.
From the construction and management standpoint of the curriculum courses in
education and training of adults, it moves away from traditional approaches and
adapts a model that is based on the andragogical perspective (cf. Canário,
1999). In this context, the ETC courses tend to be structured, asking trainees an
effective commitment to the process of learning and training. It is based on “Life
Issues” which are chosen by participants, and that address relevant and
meaningful issues, which are worked and allow to acquire skills in certain key
1
University of the Algarve, Portugal
CIEO (Research Centre of Spatial and Organizational Dynamics; this centre is funded by the Foundation
for Science and Technology – FCT), University of Algarve, Portugal
3
Acronym in Portuguese
2
1
areas covered in references provided for each of the levels of the courses that
the ETC gives access to.
Although this training offer is attractive and allows the adults in a short time, to
recover deficits in schooling, on the other hand it also has revealed
vulnerabilities and weaknesses that become increasingly evident. We speak
particularly of the high dropout rate of adults who “returned” in order to complete
a process of schooling. It is a paradoxical situation, since the attractive
conditions that offer courses - such as its duration, curriculum structure and
facilities of frequency - foresaw a continuance and easiness of completion, and
do not justify the high levels of dropouts registered.
The main focus of this paper is, therefore, centralized on the histories of the
lives of three adult’s attendees of the ETC Courses, who dropped out, and aims
to understand the relationship between the decision to abandon the training and
history of education these adults, characterized by school failure. The current
work presents some of the preliminary results of the investigation that is
undergoing, being developed as a master's degree in Science of Education and
Training.
Theoretical background: lifelong learning and adult education
The society of knowledge is a direct product globalization, although not yet
perceived by the majority of the world population, and in particular by the
European. This society of knowledge is responsible for the major social,
economic and cultural issues we face today. This implies a constant
reorganization of “personal identity, professional and even social conditions.
The constant change to which they are exposed brings out the lack of an
educational model that, in most cases, is limited merely to an early stage of life
and / or the context of formal education. Faced with a regressive pattern of
education, in which individuals find themselves faced with demands that exceed
the resources they have available, is a clear need to rethink education in the
context of lifelong learning” (Azevedo, 1999).
Education and Training of Adults, defined in the Memorandum on Lifelong
Learning as “all learning activity at any time of life, and which aims to improve
knowledge, skills and competencies within a personal perspective civic, social
and / or employment-related”, its broad definition identified with different
educational contexts, and manifests itself in terms of formal, non-formal and
informal. In this perspective, education and training of adults can be considered
as a way to go towards lifelong learning.
Analyzing different conceptions of various authors on Adult Education
(Hamburg Conference 1997, Federighi and Melo, 1999) we highlight the view of
Quintas (2008), when the author states that the “concept includes all the
moments of training of formal and informal gifts at work and in everyday life (...)
whose current direction originated from a set certain circumstances with
political, economic and social contours that contributed to his valorization”. In
fact, this field of education has always existed, and that continually interlinks the
lives of each individual (cf. Canário, 1999).
In the Portuguese context the practice of adult education has been directed to
creating opportunities that relate to a population “who were largely denied
2
access to a systematic and a prolonged educational process” (Lima, 2007,
p.24), or rather, adults with little schooling. These opportunities are materialized
in courses designed for this purpose, which represent one of the practices that
integrate education and training, and represent a means of strengthening and
facilitating the purchase of educational and vocational qualification of adult
subjects with low levels of schooling. In this context, the Education and Training
of Adults (ETC courses) is currently the key tool for the consolidation of national
strategies around education and training.
The contribution that the ETC Courses have given to increase the levels of
academic and vocational qualifications for adults is quite noticeable. However, a
number of reasons interfere with the objectives proposed by public policies for
adult education, and contribute to the interruption or even the dropping out (cf.
Benavente, 1994; Canavarro, 2007) of adults who “returned” in order to
conclude a schooling process, left behind in life at some point.
Methodology
Empirical research shows that this work was performed with three (3) adults
who have dropped out of the ETC Courses, which they were attending in public
education institutions in three different locations in a region of Portugal, in the
Algarve, and the town of Loulé. In order to understand the main reasons that led
them to abandon the training process, we guide our research around the
following research questions: (i) what are the reasons for the adults to abandon
the ETC courses?; (ii) does the of failure that, in most cases, marked the
relationship of these people with the processes of education, or their motivation
conditions, prevents them from completing their courses?; (iii) the analysis of
their "life histories" allow us to identify causes and find the reasons that
influence the decision to "give up"?, (iv) were there episodes that negatively
marked their life trajectory and the observed "abandonment" is no more than a
"prophecy foretold”?.
In this work, we used a biographical interview because the methodology we
chose justified itself, as it allowed the subjects to identify “experience,
knowledge, modes of learning” through the report of their life histories (Cornejo,
2006, p.101), which at the time of interview, the subjects had not been aware
nor had they been conscious of the significance and of the impact in future
experiences. As stated by Apitzsch and Siouti (2007) the biography is
conceived as a “social construction, and that integrates both the social reality of
the subjects’ worlds of knowledge and experience, and which constantly
affirmed and transformed within the dialectical relationship between life history
knowledge and experiences and patterns presented by society” (p.5).
For Egger (1995) the “biographies have also been used in the field of adult
education to develop and analyze the processes of learning throughout life”.
And yet according to the author, there are “many different ways and methods
created so they built a 'cultural biography', which shows certain circumstances
course of life” (p.119).
According to Alheit (1995) “we have biographical background knowledge with
which we are able to fill out and utilize to the full social space in which we move”
(p. 63). Thus, the “biography itself has become a field of learning” with great
3
potential and should be considered to understand the “unlived life” (pp.59-64).
To Apitzsch and Siouti (2007) “the main questions of interest to biographytheoretical research are how people ‘produce’ a biography in different cultural
contexts and social situations, and which conditions, rules and patterns of
construction standards can be observed in this process” (p.5).
In the context of this work, it means that you must take into account the social
context in which individuals are inserted in order to realize the potential impact
that their life histories have had, or not, in the learning experience of each one.
In short, biographical interviews give us a personal view of each subject, about
the family and school contexts, their social and professional experiences, as
well as all the elements that constitute the way these people relate to their own
learning process (including the feeling of failure).
Three histories ... different lives? The "dropout" of Julia, Philip and Paula4
Julia is 28 years old. She is single, was born in Faro, currently lives with her
mother and stepfather in Quarteira, a village on the Algarve coast, where fishing
is one of the main economic activities. Her mother is a receptionist in a medical
clinic and her father is unemployed. Julia had a liberal education, and always
did whatever she wanted. However, her mother was “very demanding” with her
and her two sisters. Julia had a difficult childhood, as she suffered with her
father's alcohol problem. Given this situation, the parents divorced when Julia
was still very young. Despite these difficulties, her mother always delivered
across good ideals of social and cultural values. It is costume to talk about
subjects of general culture, the ethical principle of citizens’ rights and duties; so
that when Julia practiced her right to vote at the age of 18 “it was one of the
greatest joys of her life”.
The schools that Julia attended, both in primary education and
basic/elementary, were relatively close to home. She was a very sociable
student and maintained good relationships with colleagues and teachers. With
regards to school work/homework, Julia did not get any kind of help from family,
because “help is not part of the family context”. When I had doubts “I would
phone friends to ask for help”. What her mother made her understand was “the
important thing was to pass at the end of the school year and, as this was the
case, her mother didn’t worry about anything else”. Julia had a relatively normal
schooling up to the 9th year. However, at age 15, when she was attending her
10th year, Julia dropped out of her educational path for the first time. At this
time, she suffered a great deal of pressure not to leave school, and her mother
said that “if Julia did, she would have her living on the street”. That never
happened because Julia was looking for a job and she started her working life
as a saleswoman in a clothing store, justifying herself to her mother, of the
decision she had made. One of the reasons that led to the abandonment was
the fact that he was the victim of bullying by some colleagues. During the
interview and almost like an outcry, Julia lets her thoughts of other times go and
referrers other reason for having dropped out of school. She mentioned that she
preferred to stay in the cafe with friends instead of being in school. For her,
4
Fictitious names
4
when she made the decision to leave school she “knew that she would not go
back”.
The following year, Julia returned to school, dropping out some time later. She
justifies this second abandonment by being emotionally shaken, as during a
period of two months her aunt, uncle and grandmother passed away (actually
occurred in 2007). She states that she was “in a very bad way, and despite
having many friends, she had no support from anyone”. Thus, in mid-2008, Julia
leaves the 10th year for the second time.
After some time, she attempted to return to school, and this time managed to
finish the 10th year. She started the 11th year, however the frequency was for a
short time. She left school again. This time, the fact that she was working was
main reason. For Julia “having a job and having money does not justify in any
way the need for school”. Despite this idea, she enrolled in an Adult Education
and Training Course (ETC), available in a school near their current residence.
However, because she was still working in a veterinary clinic, it became
“impossible” to fit in her work schedule with the classes’ schedule, and
therefore, she decided to abandon the ETC Course. The amount of hours in the
course, the demands on behalf of some of the teachers and extra hours needed
in order to attend the course “were unbearable”. She considers that the fact that
the course is aimed at “adults”, there would need to be some flexibility on behalf
of the teachers, concerning the work delivery deadlines. The “accumulation” of
these situations, and stress associated with them, were enough to give up.
Julia has no regrets for having abandoned the ETC Course, because she knew
“she would not be able to do it”. For her “it was quite easy to leave, because
after making the decision, she would just have to sign a paper and that was it”.
She considers that the fact of “having a history of abandonment”, made it easier
to decide, as she did not even have “a bad conscience” about it. After this
decision she “had more time for herself”; she could “leave work and go home
and rest and not get to thinking: I have to go to school, that was not bad”.
With the desire to “continue working” in order to pay for “little luxuries and
travel”, Julia was drawing, throughout her life, a journey that she followed
alongside, always living the same experiences, and it seems she does not feel
the need to create more challenges to take her further.
Philip is 39 years old. He was born in Loulé, a town in the Algarve, where he
lives today with his wife. He is an only child, his mother was a housewife and
father a bricklayer, holding to his profession the only source of income to
support his family. As a child, Philip considered himself “happy” despite the
financial difficulties that the family had.
In school he did not consider himself a bad student, but had some difficulty with
learning. However, until the 4th year, he had a course that he considers
“normal”. He experienced great interest at the start of the 5th year, but after the
death of his paternal grandmother, who also helped support his family, he felt
“great de-motivation”. There was no “desire for anything”. Despite the difficulties
they were going through, Philip tried to continue his studies because he knew
that “only through studying could be someone in life”. However, his father was
stricken by an illness that left him weak and unable to continue his profession. It
5
was then that Philip left school to go to work in agriculture and help their
families so desperately in need.
For Philip “it was very difficult” to have to leave school, but in that situation
“there was not much one could do”. To work became a “priority” and that's what
he has been doing until this day. With time, the family’s situation improved. His
parents received a pension that, although “was not much, did help a great deal”
by relieving some of Philip’s responsibility, in supporting the family. At this point
Philip no longer worked in agriculture, but as an electrician, for a while and
when he had the opportunity he would accompany a cousin, who worked in this
line of business, and therefore gaining experience in this area. In one of these
jobs he met Ana, a very friendly woman and who was always his “great pillar”.
Ana, a seamstress, was the one who encouraged him to, after many years,
return to school, this time in ETC Course running in high school in the city.
Philip finds that it was “very good” to go back and reinitiate something that “he
would like to have done in other times”. However, at about to six months to
finish the ETC Course, his wife was diagnosed with a “very serious” condition.
Due to accompanying his wife to Lisbon, (capital of the country and about 300
kilometres away from the place where Philip lives) for treatment, Philip, without
thinking “twice”, left the course he was attending. Despite the incident, Philip
believes that the time he spent in the course was very good. I had good
teachers and good classmates. But he says that the structure in terms of “time
that is required to complete” the course “should be less”.
Philip considers the possibility of returning, “but not for now”. At this time,
despite the good recovery of his wife, he does not yet consider it suitable. For
him, he will return at the right time “with pleasure, even more so because it is
Ana’s desire”. Now it is a matter of having the time because he does not lack
“the will and motivation”.
Paula is 51 years old, she is married and a mother of two children. She was
born in Boliqueime, a town situated on the outskirts of the city of Loulé. She
now lives with her husband and daughter in Benfarras, a nearby village where
he was born and her son now lives in the north. Her father was a merchant and
her mother had a shop. Paula had a troubled childhood. Her mother often
required, along with her sister, that Paula worked in the family business, and
this required a greater dedication on Paula’s behalf. For Paula, her “mother was
very cunning and cold”, and had in Paula’s father, her “main” support. When
Paula was 11 years old, her parents immigrated to France, leaving her with her
sister, in her grandmother's care. It was a very difficult time because they felt,
especially on behalf of her mother, the lack of attention and affection.
At school, Paula had no support to perform the work proposed by the teachers,
being left in charge of all her responsibilities. As the school was far from the
grandmother's house where Paula lived at the time, had to take the train and
this she learnt how do to “all on her own”. In her opinion, “for a girl of 12, this a
difficult thing to do”. Paula had no difficulty in terms of learning, but she
considered herself too “lazy” to study. She treated her teachers well, and got
along equally well with colleagues. Despite not having difficulties in adjusting in
school, the lack of motivation and her involvement in bad behavioral influence
situations with other classmates (she started smoking) led to her failing the 6th
6
year. When Paula's parents, still living in abroad, heard about this they decided
to ask for her transfer to a convent boarding school, located in the city of Faro,
where she then lived. Paula never got used to the new school, having gone on
a “hunger strike” (she went two days without eating), which affected her health.
After this event, Paula's mother returned home, and this year, Paula left her
school career for the first time.
Without many qualifications, Paula began working as a maid. At this same time
she met Luís, who would later become her husband. At the age of 15 years, an
early pregnancy “crushed” any possibility of her returning to school. Under
pressure from the parents in the summer of that year the young couple was
married. Thus, Paula started her family.
In the following years, she tried to combine her family life with also being a
maid. She did not have many opportunities, but in the hope of a better life, she
took a typing course, which soon after that she got a job offer. She was invited
to work in the office of a public school of education. Even so, as she was afraid
of not being able to “accomplish the work”, she did not accept the job. However,
due to the insisting of the director and to her training – “despite having
completed the 6th year, at that time was difficult to take a typing course” – she
started to work as an operating assistant, leaving her in charge of the school’s
stationery office. Currently, Paula continues working in the same school, but
she now performs different functions, as she does “whatever she is prompted to
do”.
Despite the difficulties in her life, Paula has completed a number of courses
(english, secretarial skills), which allowed her the equivalent level of 9th year.
Influenced by the director and some teachers at the school where she works,
she decided to enrol in an Adult Education and Training Course (ETC) that took
place at her workplace. The main objective was “to obtain grade 12th year order
to gain access to greater wages through schooling”. However, Paula was to
learn that the much desired salary increase, or even the higher position, was
not to be due to the country’s current economic situation. She made the
decision, in her words, “not difficult” to abandon the ETC Course she was
attending. For her it was “a great sacrifice she had to do to attend classes, not
gaining anything back from it”. However, another reason in her decision for
leaving was reported. Many of the classmates who attended were also Paula’s
co-workers, and sometimes there were “temper, character, and position
incompatibilities” and this caused her some discomfort. Within the training there
were “groups” and Paula felt “excluded and humiliated”. Despite not knowing
this, some of the teachers and the ETC coordinator spoke to talk to Paula in
order to persuade her to return to the course, which did not happen because
Paula was “too afraid of the harm it could do her at her work”.
Despite showing some regret in not having finished her educational background
at the right time, as she says “if I had not dropped out at that time, by now I
certainly would have been be a schoolteacher”, Paula says, “as of yet, I do not
regret” having abandoned the ETC Course. She stresses “the fact she already
abandoned a first time, certainly helped to leave once again”, as in her opinion
“one who abandons once, will abandon again”. She also stresses that the she
enrolled in and attended the ETC Course for “the sake of an easy way out” to
get a better career opportunity that ultimately did not materialize, although she
7
also is of the opinion that there is much to do still, in education for adults in
order for them to acquire “skills that are good for their lives”.
Discussion
The three biographies presented here allow us to make some inferences and
draw some conclusions. The first is that Julie and Paula’s biographies highlight
a similar perspective in the abandonment of schooling. Both had difficulties at
an early stage of their lives, and lack of motivation, lack of parental monitoring
school activities may have reflected and conditioned the successive
withdrawals. As for Philip, and despite having dropped out, it is clear that this
was obviously not his desire to do so. A succession of complicated phases in
the lives of the three subjects, particularly economic and family issues, which
caused conflicts within themselves, made them leave their school career at an
early stage more than once and then the process of education / training. In
summary, and analyzing the main reasons for leaving, we can identify the
following:

Lack of personal motivation – It is well known that lack of motivation is
a major reason for the abandonment. For adults, their “motivation is by
definition intrinsic” (Quintas, 2008). It comes from within, but for the
processes of training and learning to be effective there must be an
encouragement and a strengthening of this natural inclination. Therefore,
to reverse an 'almost pre-announced drop out' it is necessary first of all,
“to create favorable conditions to support the intrinsic motivation of the
trainees” (Quintas, 2008). In all the cases we studied, there were
circumstances that compromised such motivation, and the earlier
experiences of abandonment seem to have justified and precipitated the
recent decision. For the subjects we studied, leaving the course was not
a difficult decision because they had already made the decision before.

History of abandonment - The appeal to work, the families’ economic
difficulties of are just two of many reasons for discontinuation. And when
these phenomena are recurring, or when, as is the case, the employment
opportunities are scarce and the subjects cannot take the time to study
without compromising their professional performance, then the call to
abandon becomes more pressing and turns out to be effective.

Conflicts - For Brookfield (2000) “training spaces are not quiet and clear
streams that were diverted from the great river that is the political,
cultural and social life. They are competitive arenas, ‘whirlpools’ where
you can also record the conflicts that are observed in the world outside,
they are presumed materials of own superiority and impositions” (p.40).
Quoting this author and this brilliant passage helps us understand the
tensions that often occur in areas of training and adult learning. Moreover
the fact that adults have an already formed personality each one with its
own idiosyncrasies, which difficult more flexible and contemporized
positions. Paula’s story of takes this as one of the main reasons for the
abandonment and this aspect must not be neglected in the organization
of the processes of education and training for adults.
8

Curriculum development process - Some disappointment pervades in
the life histories reported about the methods of teaching used in the
process of education and training they attended, and the opinion that the
level of demand, the need to meet deadlines for the tasks as well as the
relationship between the trainer and the trainee should be more tailored
to an audience that has characteristics different from the young school
public. Adults accuse some inability in this respect, which calls for a more
appropriate professional training of educational trainers’ work with adults.
In summary, we conclude that, although without a very clear conscience about
this relationship, the subjects consider that the decision to abandon the route of
their adult education and training was facilitated by the fact that they had made
this decision once before. The perception of failure being inevitable is already
integrated in their life histories and seems to pursue them, and assume that as
they had not been able to complete a learning process before, what happened
was the repeating of a pattern. This evidence is important at three levels: i) the
identifying of the reasons that can lead to the abandonment, and consequent
need for taking measures to prevent this in the offers education and training for
adults; ii) the re-analysis of the phenomenon school failure of young people, to
the extent that, in addition to denote serious failure of the education system, it
would anticipate future failures; iii) the replication, in family context, of the
observed phenomenon. It is known that the relationship we establish with
families and school and with the success is passed, either explicitly or implicitly,
in the education given to their children. Parents who failed academically, and
who do not value school, hardly encourage their children to be successful in
school. In this sense, preventing school failure also avoids future situations of
abandonment in the learning process throughout life, and also ensures that the
success rates among youth are higher.
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