Naming and blaming early school leavers : an analysis of education policies, discourses and practices in Spain

Early school leaving (ESL) is one of the main challenges facing the Spanish education system. With 24, 9% of the population made up by 18-24 year olds who have not completed compulsory secondary schooling or pursued further or higher education,1 Spain thereby doubles the ESL percentage regarding the EU-27 (12. 8%), and is far from the European Benchmark set for 10% ESL across the EU and 15% for Spain by the year 2020