Abstract:
This paper sets out to investigate the extent to which gender, family's characteristics, attitudes, students' behaviour and achievement interacted with each other and influenced students' withdrawal in rural mountainous areas in Vietnam. Five hundred and fifty nine students and their parents responded to the questionnaires. Education officers and teachers and a small group of parents and students were involved in semi-structured interviews. A hypothetical model was developed to address the relationships between gender, family characteristics, attitudes, achievement and withdrawal. Some single variables involved in the model, such as family wealth, parents' and students' attitudes towards schooling were constructed using Item Response Theory. Structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the data collected through questionnaires to test the potential causal relationships between variables.
The fieldwork was conducted in two mountainous communes in Luc Ngan district, Bac Giang province. Data obtained from questionnaires completed by students and their parents were used to identify potential causal relationships between factors in influencing withdrawal from lower secondary education.
It was found that parents' occupation educational status, parents' attitudes, family wealth, students' academic achievement, and gender were important factors associated with students' withdrawal in Thanh Hai and Quy Son. Except for students' academic achievement which has only direct effect on students' withdrawal, these factors influenced on students' withdrawal both directly and indirectly. The influence of parents' occupation educational status on students' withdrawal was mainly mediated via parents' attitudes and family wealth. The influence of family wealth on students' withdrawal was mediated through parents' attitudes and students' academic achievement. The influence of parents' attitudes on students' withdrawal was mediated through students' academic achievement. The influence of gender on students' withdrawal was mediated through parents' attitudes and students' behaviour.
The fieldwork was conducted in two mountainous communes in Luc Ngan district, Bac Giang province. Data obtained from questionnaires completed by students and their parents were used to identify potential causal relationships between factors in influencing withdrawal from lower secondary education.
It was found that parents' occupation educational status, parents' attitudes, family wealth, students' academic achievement, and gender were important factors associated with students' withdrawal in Thanh Hai and Quy Son. Except for students' academic achievement which has only direct effect on students' withdrawal, these factors influenced on students' withdrawal both directly and indirectly. The influence of parents' occupation educational status on students' withdrawal was mainly mediated via parents' attitudes and family wealth. The influence of family wealth on students' withdrawal was mediated through parents' attitudes and students' academic achievement. The influence of parents' attitudes on students' withdrawal was mediated through students' academic achievement. The influence of gender on students' withdrawal was mediated through parents' attitudes and students' behaviour.