Journal of Business and entrepreneurial
January - March Vol. 7 - 1 - 2023
http://journalbusinesses.com/index.php/revista
e-ISSN: 2576-0971
journalbusinessentrepreneurial@gmail.com
Receipt: 19 May 2022
Approval: 12 November 2022
Page 35-43
Reducing school dropout rates: an analysis from the
perspective of educational management
Disminución de la deserción escolar un análisis desde la
gerencia educativa
Libardo Mendoza-Galindo
*
Catalina Miranda-Gutierrez
*
Celia Polo-Rambal
*
ABSTRACT
School dropout has become a recurrent phenomenon in
institutions worldwide, awakening the interest of
researchers in knowing its causes and possible solutions to
ensure student retention, being aware of the individual and
social impact that low schooling has on the development
of communities. Therefore, the objective of this study is to
implement a ludic-pedagogical strategy for the academic
improvement of 6th grade students of the IETD San José
de Sitionuevo. The methodology was based on the
qualitative approach of action-research type, making use of
the pre-test - post-test in the collection of information
through field diaries and semi-structured interviews. The
participating sample consisted of 60 6th grade students, 3
teachers of the institution and 15 parents. The main results
point out the lack of motivation, low school performance
and few support networks in the classroom as negative
elements related to school dropout. The findings that were
presented show how pedagogical strategies that make use
of play in teaching, manage to strengthen each of the
difficulties that this study found.
Keywords: Neuromarketing, internationalization,
services hotels.
* Master, IETD San José de Sitionuevo, Bogota Colombia,
libardomendoza@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3714-5663
* Master, IETD San José de Sitionuevo, Bogota Colombia,
catalinamiranda@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3049-932X
* Master, IETD San José de Sitionuevo, Bogota Colombia,
celiapolo@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7251-5391
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RESUMEN
La deserción escolar se ha convertido en un fenómeno
recurrente en las instituciones a nivel global, despertando
el interés de los investigadores en conocer sus causas y
posibles soluciones que permitan garantizar la permanencia
estudiantil, siendo conscientes del impacto individual y
social que acarrea la baja escolarización para el desarrollo
de las comunidades. Por lo anterior el presente estudio
tiene como objetivo implementar una estrategia lúdico
pedagógica para el mejoramiento académico de los
Estudiantes de grado 6° de la IETD San José de Sitionuevo.
La metodología se basó en el enfoque cualitativo de tipo
investigación-acción, haciendo uso del pre test – post test
en la recolección de la información por medio de diarios
de campo y entrevistas semiestructuradas. La muestra
participante estuvo conformada por 60 estudiantes del 6°,
3 docentes de la institución y 15 padres de familia. Los
principales resultados señalan la falta de motivación, bajo
rendimiento escolar y pocas redes de apoyo en el aula
como elementos negativos que se relacionan con la
deserción escolar. Los hallazgos que se presentaron dan
muestra de como las estrategias pedagógicas que hacen
uso de la lúdica para la enseñanza, logran fortalecer cada
una de las dificultades que el presente estudio encontró.
Palabras clave: Neuromarketing, internationalization,
services hotels.
INTRODUCTION
Education is one of the pillars that has been consolidated over the decades as the driving
force and ideal stepping stone for the achievement of personal, professional and even
social goals, because through these spaces of knowledge acquisition, citizens are forged
who one day will be precursors of change and community development; however, some
internal and external conditions to the individual trigger counterproductive decisions for
this, such as the decision to drop out of academic institutions.
This school dropout is undoubtedly one of the major concerns of educational
institutions today, leading them to a constant study of the variables that determine this
choice and those effective alternatives that guarantee the retention of the student body
(Cueto et al., 2020; Zepeda, 2020 and Ruiz-Ramírez et al., 2020).
In Colombia, the Ministry of National Education (MEN) (s.f) defines dropout "as the
abandonment of the school system by students, caused by a combination of factors
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generated both within the system and in social, family, individual and environmental
contexts". Only for the year 2020, according to the MEN, there was a withdrawal of
102,880 girls and boys at national level, representing 1.1% of the enrollment, so the
country's need to know the factors that originate such actions becomes more acute.
It is precisely in the attempt to respond to these problems that research is developed
(Carhuaz and Yupanqui-Lorenzo, 2020; Guerrero, 2018; Tocora-Lozano and García-
González, 2018) that allowed giving an overview of the factors that in the Colombian
territory represent the greatest risk predictor for school dropout, highlighting in a large
part of them the causes of low motivation, low school performance, poor parental
accompaniment and few interpersonal relationships in classrooms or educational
environments in general.
From there arise lines of knowledge that focus on the motivational components of the
student body in educational institutions (González Castro et al., 2021 and Albarrán-Peña,
2019) which have found that this is an internal factor that generates in a global way in
people the impulse to achieve their objectives and persist in the pursuit of these goals,
more specifically in students to continue their academic training, and to be interested in
the learning that the academy provides to the student body.
Motivation then becomes undoubtedly one of the essential processes to which the
strategy that the teacher should aim to develop within their classrooms, taking as a
premise that when motivation is active within the student receiver of information, the
knowledge acquired by this, will be significant and constant; since if, on the contrary, the
student lacks motivation to attend classes, receive new tasks, learn new things and so
on, his school performance will reflect this with low grades that are recurrent in
populations with these negative characteristics (Usán-Supervía, and Salavera-Bordás,
2018; Prieto-Andreu, 2020).
Now, when it establishes that school dropout is linked to motivational factors, which
influence school performance, and that school performance is a predictor of whether
or not students drop out, the role of the teacher becomes the crucial means through
which the desire of students to continue their education will be enhanced, achieving this
with the help of pedagogical and playful strategies that become indispensable tools in the
design and delivery of knowledge in the classroom.
According to Díaz-Barriga and Hernández (2002), pedagogical strategies are the tools
used by the teacher to promote meaningful learning for students, i.e., they are the way
in which the knowledge that the tutor has as a basis is received by the student to connect
with his previous knowledge or build new conceptual connections, but this is not done
in a unidirectional way where the student is a passive receiver, but is an active agent in
the construction of the knowledge he acquires.
On the other hand, this same author points out that it is too complicated to define or
stipulate a single type of strategy that is effective for all contexts, ages, academic areas
and others, since it is based on knowing the specific requirements of the class group, so
that it is possible to develop strategies that adapt to them and strengthen their skills and
competencies. This is where the teacher's level of analysis and the observation he/she
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carries out on his/her students, fulfills clear purposes that guarantee to a great extent
an optimal performance in the classroom.
Therefore, despite the fact that there is no predetermined or standardized strategy for
any context, playfulness, which consists of teaching through play, has shown significantly
positive results in terms of meaningful learning and increased school motivation,
elements that play a crucial role in the current research project, as stated by Silva (2004),
whose research results corroborate that pedagogical strategies designed and adapted in
an effective way to the context to be applied, generate positive transformations in
learning and school environment.
It is for all of the above that not only consolidates the need to know and investigate the
factors that trigger school dropout in the population under study, but also justifies the
design and application of recreational strategies aimed at counteracting those results
that are given in light of the first phase of identification proposed.
The objective of this research was to design and implement a ludic pedagogical strategy
through which to contribute to the reduction of school dropout among 6th grade
students of the IETD San José de Sitionuevo.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This research was conducted under a qualitative action research approach (Hernández-
Sampieri et al., 2014). The participant sample consisted of 60 students from the 6th
grade of the IETD San José de Sitionuevo, whose ages ranged from 10 to 14 years old,
3 teachers from the institution and 15 parents who voluntarily agreed to participate.
The collection instruments were field diaries and semi-structured interviews with focus
groups, being these collection methods typical of qualitative research (Hernández-
Sampieri et al., 2014). The information was collected in two moments (pre-test - post-
test), in a first moment where the factors causing desertion in the institution were
identified, and another moment after the application of the designed strategy.
RESULTS
Taking into account that the data collection took place in two moments (pre-test-post-
test), the results obtained will be presented in that order, being presented first the
results of the pre-test in all the participating groups with the different instruments used,
and then the post-test that was carried out at the end of the application of the designed
strategy.
Then, in relation to the focus group of parents who participated in the semi-structured
interview, different categories could be evidenced that were the result of axial
categorization using the emerging categories of their responses. Thus, the first category
found was "a lot of leisure time on TV", which according to studies such as that of
Zapata-Laman et al. (2021) is associated with low performance within the student
community, and when a student spends his time outside the institution on electronic
devices under purely entertainment activities, the space he will give to the fulfillment of
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his homework assignments will be left to the last minute or he will not perform them
adequately.
A second category found corresponded to the accompaniment that parents perceived
that they granted to their children in relation to school, being "good accompaniment"
the main category for this case, this undoubtedly favors the implementation of strategies
for the permanence of students (Lizarazo et al., 2019), so the efforts of the parent or
caregiver, could be linked to the efforts made by the institution, thus giving positive
elements to face the general panorama presented.
On the other hand, upon inquiring into the categories that emerged from the interviews
with teachers of the institution, it was found that in the first place the "lack of motivation"
stood out for its repeated appearance in the teachers' answers as one of the factors that
could be perceived in the students, which undoubtedly generates the need to address
and work properly this problem, since it is widely reported by some research (González
Castro et al., 2021; Usán Supervía and Salavera Bordás, 2018) that motivation plays a
crucial role in the learning process and the student's desires to achieve individual and
collective goals within the educational enclosure.
Similarly, the category of "school performance" emerged, which was directly related to
academic performance in "reading comprehension", this is because students presented
a poor level of reading comprehension, causing regular or failed grades in most subjects,
thus generating low school performance that becomes a predictor of dropout in
institutions as has been evidenced in other research that relate these variables to each
other significantly (Ibarra, 2020; Lozano and Maldonado, 2019).
Another category was "support bases", where teachers considered that there was a lack
of this element, due to the lack of relationships that some students had with their peers,
not only in the classroom, but also in recreational areas such as the breaks they were
given. This may be seen by some teachers or managers as a minor problem, if it is
considered a problem at all; however, it has been shown that the existence of support
networks within the institutions strengthens confidence, school performance and
decreases the annual withdrawal rate (Pianchiche López, 2019).
Finally, it was found in the interview applied to teachers, that "pedagogical strategies"
were also a significantly recurrent category in the results obtained, being considered by
them as the ideal way to impart knowledge within the institution, ensuring an effective
and permanent reception of the elements taught to students, because the pedagogical
strategies as mentioned by Diaz-Barriga and Hernandez (2002) are useful tools to
transmit the conglomerate of knowledge to the population groups of the institutions,
allowing the use of games and other activities as a creative and playful way of learning.
Regarding the field diary, the main results that were found allowed observing their
relationship with the different academic areas taught in the institution and the attitudes
they have towards them, being evident a higher motivational level before the area of
education and sports through which they manage to perform different games that keep
them active and concentrated in class hours; however, in subjects such as Spanish, their
performance is not only lower in terms of their grades, but also in terms of their