Clients of Residential Youth Care at Risk of Dropout from Upper Secondary Education

Early school leaving represents a serious problem in the European and recently also in the Czech context. The aim of this thesis is to research the dropout risks at clients of the Youth Diagnostic Facility using qualitative methods. The subject of the research is a group of six boys aged 15- 17 years. The goal of the research is to map the causes of educational issues through case studies and identify the reasons for dropout among the facility's clients; to explore the approach of schools and their staff to the education of these individuals; to describe the education conditions provided by the diagnostic facility; and to find out how the clients themselves see their education process and whether their attitude and approach to education changed during their stay at the facility. The results show that in some cases placement in a diagnostic or educational facility can increase, by providing suitable conditions, the chances of obtaining secondary education. KEYWORDS school dropout, early school leaving, upper secondary education, adolescent boys, residential care, COVID-19 pandemi