Over recent years there has been a strong emphasis on year 12 completion as an indicator of success in remote First Nations education. The research reported in this article explores what students, school staff and community members say leads to secondary school retention and, ultimately, completion. The research was conducted in the Northern…

It has been argued that the establishment of single-sex classes for females can increase their motivation and participation in physics. This paper reports on findings from a multi-occasional study among 90 female year 11 physics students across single-sex and co-educational high schools in Australia. The aim of this study was to identify the…

Non-completion of senior secondary schooling continues to be a matter of concern for policy makers and practitioners in Australia today. Despite the efforts of governments to improve participation and retention rates, 30% of students drop out of school before completing Year 12. Further, some students remain at school, just biding their time until…

This paper is concerned with research into early school leaving. A narrative interview approach was used to document and analyse the experiences, processes and decisions that a small sample of boys made prior to leaving school, in this case, before completing year 10 and 11. Data collected in 2004 indicate that schools along with students…