”Sanoin että moikka, ja se oli vaan et 'moikka'.” : Ypäjän Hevosopiston keskeyttäneiden opiskelijoiden kokemukset keskeyttämisestä ja sen taustalta ; ”I said 'bye' and he was just like 'bye'” : experience of early school leaving told by students of Ypäjä Hevosopisto

The target of this research was to find out experience of students in vocational education concerning early school leaving among students who has dropped out. Other target was to find out underlying reasons for early leaving the school. I also was interested in life stories and current life situation of those early school leavers. Drop out phenomenon has perceived as a problem in terms of the waist of appropriations and the delay in the transition from school to working life. Early school leaving in secondary education has considered as remarkable risk of eventual exclusion. Previous studies show that the risk to become school dropout already arises during primary school. Academic success and school satisfaction in primary school has a great effect on one's studies and how much they enjoy to study in that school. Also puberty, home conditions in general and motivation have an impact on eventual school dropout. The research questions were: What kind of experience lead to student's decision to quit studies in Ypäjä Hevosopisto? How did the students experience dropping out? What were the reasons why a student applied for studies in Ypäjä Hevosopisto? What is the life situation of each student like nowadays? This study was a case study with three drop outs. I interviewed every dropout student separately by thematic interview. The cases had started their studies after year 2010 in Ypäjän Hevosopisto and then, eventually, dropped out. Everybody studied in triple decree. I also interviewed the current study advisor in Ypäjä Hevosopisto in order to get another viewpoint. First I transcribed all interviews and then analyzed them by using theory based content analysis. I categorized the answers first to upper and then to subordinate concepts. The result of the study was that any case was not dropping due to factors that appeared in earlier studies. All the cases were students with success and high motivation. The most important reason for dropping out was some sad and unexpected coincidence. Two students quitted because ...