Educational Statistics

 

Recent Changes in School Dropout Patterns among

Korean Adolescents: Between Forced ‘Dropout’ and

Voluntary Choice

 

 

 

Author: Nam, Sindong (Senior Research Fellow, KEDI)

 

 

  

 

As the school dropout rate among high school students has recently increased, public discussion surrounding its causes and appropriate policy responses has expanded. Why has this change occurred, and when did it begin? Can the current rebound in the school dropout rate be regarded as a qualitatively different phenomenon from previous trends?

 

 

■ Trends in School Dropout Rates over Time

 

To better understand the context surrounding recent changes in school dropout rates among adolescents, [Figure 1] presents the long-term trends. Since 1990, school dropout rates at the elementary and middle school levels have remained relatively stable, with little fluctuation. In contrast, the high school dropout rate has exhibited a long-term N-shaped pattern, with a pronounced upward trend re-emerging in recent years. The high school dropout rate increased steadily from 1.1% in the 2020 school year to 1.5% in 2021, 1.9% in 2022, 2.0% in 2023, and 2.1% in 2024. The recent increase in school dropout rates among adolescents has been particularly pronounced at the high school level.

 

 

 

 

To examine these recent changes in greater detail, the following analysis focuses on trends in high school dropout rates by school type and community size over the past decade.

 

According to [Figure 2], the most notable increase in recent years has occurred among specialized vocational high schools. In 2024, the dropout rate at specialized vocational high schools reached 4.2%, substantially higher than those of general high schools (1.7%), special-purpose high schools (1.7%), and autonomous high schools (1.9%). At general high schools, the dropout rate increased from 1.1% in 2015 to 1.7% in 2024, indicating a clear upward trend. Although dropout rates at special-purpose and autonomous high schools remained relatively low, they nevertheless increased by 0.6%p and 1.1%p, respectively, compared with earlier years.

 

Even within the same school type, students in township (eup) and rural (myeon) areas tended to exhibit higher dropout rates than those in metropolitan cities, and small and medium-sized cities. Moreover, recent changes in dropout rates by school type have been accompanied by shifts in their regional distribution. In particular, dropout rates at specialized vocational schools have risen sharply in both special/metropolitan cities and small and medium-sized cities, exceeding 4% in 2024.

 

 

 

 

■ Recent Qualitative Diversification of School Dropout: Coexistence of ‘Dropout’ and ‘Choice’

 

Over the past decade, the proportion of voluntary withdrawals among reasons for school dropout increased from 95.1% in 2014 to 97.2% in 2020, 98.4% in 2023, and 98.8% in 2024. Looking at the specific reasons for voluntary withdrawal in the 2024 school year, ‘others’ (68.8%), whose meaning is not clearly specified, accounted for the largest share across all high school types. This was followed by ‘school maladjustment’ (14.38%), ‘departure from Korea’ (8.44%), and ‘illness’ (6.49%). By high school types, the proportion of ‘others’ was relatively high among general high schools (71.28%), ‘departure from Korea’ among special-purpose high schools (16.14%) and autonomous high schools (13.91%), and ‘school maladjustment’ among specialized vocational high schools (27.35%).

 

 

 

Meanwhile, even within the same high school type, the distribution of reasons for school dropout varied by community size. Among general high schools, the proportion of ‘others’ was generally high across all areas, at around 70%, while the proportion of ‘school maladjustment’ was relatively higher in township (eup) and rural (myeon) areas, at 15.1% and 16.3%, respectively, than in urban areas. Among specialized vocational high schools, which recorded the highest dropout rate, the proportion of ‘school maladjustment’ was relatively high, particularly in special/metropolitan cities (29.4%) and township (eup) areas (35.1%).

 

 

 

 

Recent changes in high school dropout rates suggest that school dropout does not necessarily refer only to forced withdrawal due to personal circumstances such as illness, family circumstances, or school maladjustment. Special-purpose and autonomous high schools showed a relatively higher proportion of ‘departure from Korea’ than other school types, and this tendency was more pronounced in special/metropolitan cities (18.8% for special-purpose high schools and 23.3% for autonomous high schools). In this regard, attention should also be paid to the trend of students using the qualification examination system after leaving school as part of a college admissions strategy.

 

 

 

 

As shown in [Figure 4] above, the number of applicants for the elementary and middle school graduation qualification examinations has continued to decline since 2008, whereas the number of applicants for the high school graduation qualification examination increased to approximately 75,000 in 2011, then shifted to a downward trend before rebounding after 2017 and reaching approximately 50,000 in 2024. In addition, the pass rate for the high school graduation qualification examination rose from approximately 40-50% in the mid-2000s to 71.7% after increasing steadily since 2015. Alongside the increase in the high school dropout rate since 2015, the proportion of college entrants who had passed the high school graduation qualification examination has also followed a similar upward trend. The high school dropout rate and the proportion of college entrants who had passed the qualification examination were 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively, in 2019, but increased to 2.1% and 2.7%, respectively, in 2024.

 

 

■ Conclusion

 

This column has examined several aspects of the recent increase in school dropout rates among adolescents. The recent school dropout phenomenon, which has taken shape since around 2015, reflects a complex pattern in which forced ‘dropout’ on the one hand and voluntary choice of educational pathways on the other coexist.

 

In the past, before the introduction of free secondary education as it exists today, withdrawal from school occurred mainly due to external and coercive factors, such as poverty caused by economic hardship and illness, including tuberculosis. Today, forced factors behind school dropout, such as economic hardship reflected in ‘poverty,’ ‘illness,’ and ‘tuberculosis,’ have gradually disappeared, and new reasons such as ‘school maladjustment’ and ‘departure from Korea’ have taken their place. This suggests that recent school dropout among adolescents has become a complex phenomenon that cannot be explained by a single cause.

 

However, focusing only on these recent changes makes it difficult to provide a balanced explanation of the current school dropout phenomenon. High dropout rates among specialized vocational and general high schools, the high proportions of ‘others’ and ‘school maladjustment’ as reasons for dropout, and gaps in access to educational opportunities by high school type and region remain important issues. Although most recent school dropout occurs in the form of voluntary withdrawal, the ‘others’ category, in which specific reasons are not identified, accounts for an overwhelmingly large share of around 70%. Identifying the diverse meanings contained in the so-called black box of ‘others’ will serve as a starting point for improving adolescents’ school continuation rates. Going forward, it will be necessary to examine more closely in what contexts, why, and how adolescents come to discontinue their studies between ‘dropout’ and ‘choice.’

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                    

According to the Statistical Yearbook of Education (1970), poverty accounted for 26.3% of withdrawals from elementary school, while health-related reasons, including illness (12.8%) and tuberculosis (2.8%), also accounted for a certain share. Poverty accounted for 63.3% and 41.5% of reasons for withdrawal from middle and high schools, respectively (51.3% for general academic high schools and 43.6% for vocational high schools).