Former students reveal why they dropped out of school as experts try to curb the trend

Students are refusing to attend class and dropping out of school altogether at record rates, prompting a push by experts to combat the trend.

Poor “wellbeing management”, lack of face-to-face learning during Covid-19 and school refusal are am­ong the reasons students are dropping out at record rates in Victoria.

It comes as new resources have been launched by youth mental health service Orygen – ahead of students returning to school this year – in a bid to keep them in class.

The two guides will help schools and parents identify the signs of school refusal – the reluctance to turn up for class – and how students can be supported.

“The emphasis is on early intervention, but the resources also speak to kids who are really struggling, and this is impacting their educational outcomes,” Orygen research translation chief Rosemary Purcell said.

Some students finished school early to take up an apprenticeship.

The free guides are available for schools to download from Orygen’s website.

More than one million students are enrolled in Victorian government, Catholic and independent schools for 2024, with most returning to the classroom on Tuesday.

It comes after alarming figures revealed by the Herald Sun last month showed 14.1 per cent of students who started year 7 in 2018 left before they completed year 12. This figure was the lowest retention rate the state had recorded in a decade.

Typical of those who quit school before obtaining their year 12 certificate was Mikayla – just a week before her 16th birthday.

Now 19, she decided she no longer wanted to attend school amid the pandemic in 2020.

“I lost interest because of the environment we were in – one week we were in the classroom and the next we were back at home,” she said.

School refusal is another reason students are not completing year 12.

Mikayla said sitting at her desk and learning through a screen was not ideal so she found a spray painting apprenticeship. Friend Noah, 18, also became disengaged from school and left in 2022 to do a roof tiling apprenticeship.

“I realised school wasn’t for me when I stopped enjoying it and wanted to be able to earn my own money,” he said.

However, future career aspirations aren’t the only reason students quit school.

Melbourne University student Katherine, 24, struggled with extreme body dysmorphia in year 11.

“I was so depressed or scared of other people that when I did go to school, I would act up and hide in the toilets for the whole day,” she said.

“If I had three unexplained absences, the school would punish me with a detention.”

While Katherine finished year 12, she said the school gave her “absolutely no support”.

“Schools don’t take into consideration that everyone is different. Students complete things at their own pace depending on how they’re wired,” she said.