Determinantes do abandono e atraso escolar, de adolescentes no ensino médio: uma análise para a região Sul do Brasil

Abstract

Achieving universal primary education in Brazil constitutes in one of the main goals in the education area, that facts and several studies prove the positive influence of educational level on the economic well-being of an individual. Therefore, this thesis was proposed to analyze the determinants of the school abandonment and also the educational backwardness, regarding to teenagers aged among 14 - 17, from south of Brazil. Specifically, the intention was to investigate the influence of individual and family characteristics as well as the socioeconomic conditions of the municipality, concerning the level of education, and the ideal age to attend high school. Thereby, It was applied the hierarchical logit model to the Census 2010 data, along with other social and economic information that has been obtained through the municipalities average. The econometric analysis was preceded by a Statistical Analysis of Spatial Data (ESDA), as well as a descriptive statistic about school abandonment and the educational backwardness. The main results showed the importance of individual characteristics on educational decision, it was concluded that the boys leave school and are late in one s studies, more often than the girls. The fact of being working increases the chances of abandoning school, however it has the effect of reducing the educational backwardness. Receiving social benefit from the Federal Government contributes to the reduction of abandoning studies, nevertheless influences the educational backwardness. Relating to family characteristics it was shown that the education level, skin color and race significantly influence the condition of the adolescents at school. It was also stated the negative and significant effect of family income in this two dependent variables. Concerning about the social and economic indicators level of the cities, it was found that these indicators affect the abandonment and educational backwardness, both in existing internal relations in a city, and from a significant neighborhood effect. In this case, adolescents are deciding to stay in school and dedicate oneself to studies through the observation to the reality in which one lives. Once the local reality suffers the effect of economic and social conditions, the final decision of adolescents and one s families is influenced by a set of economic and social factors related. The conclusion to these observations is that isolated policies are not successful through the adolescent s education level. Once there is the evidence of the individual and family characteristics importance, it is proposed the maintenance and improvement of social policies in the country that aims to improve the family income, as well as the educational conditions of mothers and heads of household. In addition to policies that improve economic and social conditions of the families it is of vital importance to create coordinated actions, which help to stimulate employment and economic activity, especially in the regions where the indicators were negative.