Gounko, Tatiana

Dr. Tatiana Gounko obtained her Ph.D from the University of Alberta. Currently, she teaches Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies at the University of Victoria.

Alarming Relation Between Early School Leaving and Crime: A Case Study of Twelve Male School Drop-Outs Who Ended Up Behind Bars

2012 0-7734-2661-2
Smale and Gounko study twelve men who dropped out of school early, and wound up in juvenile delinquency. While many studies have suggested a link between early school leaving and delinquency nobody has done a study from the perspective of the criminals using dissimilar populations. The directional causality between criminal behavior and dropping out of school has yet to be established, and this study brings researchers one step closer to fully understanding which one happens first. The authors outline a long list of factors that contribute to early school leaving, and they insist that educators can play a role in impacting the in school environment to create positive outcomes for students on the fence about dropping out.