According to the Education for All 2000 Assessment, in South Africa a significant proportion (i.e. 16 percent) of children 6-14 years of age are out-of-school though they should be attending in terms of the countries education acts and policies. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that contributed to learners dropping out of three rural farm schools in Thornville, KwaZulu-Natal. The participants in this study were seven youth who dropped out of school, three parents of youth who dropped out of school, and two teachers who are teaching in Thornville farm school. The study took a form of a qualitative case study. The semi-structured interview was used as a tool of data collection. The findings show that there are a number of different factors that contribute to youth dropping out of school in the three rural farm schools. Factors such as low socioeconomic status, single parent household, mobility, low education attainment of parents and under resourced schools place learners at risk of dropping out of school. Poverty emerged as a major factor. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

The South African context gives rise to a number of significant adversities that challenge the stability of the individual child and the survival of their families. The repercussions of these adversities are profound. Once risk begins to accumulate, the probability of a negative developmental trajectory increases. A group of South African children that are a particularly vulnerable, at risk, and marginalized group are those youth who are excluded from school. Access to the schooling system represents an important node of care and support with the potential of linking vulnerable children to key services. Eight youth from a town in a former homeland in rural KwaZulu Natal, who are excluded from the schooling system, participated in this research. The research aimed to map their experiences of school exclusion through a participatory photo interview technique. Using Bronfenbrenner's (1979) socio-ecological systems theory, this study has indicated that exclusion from school relates to risk factors present in the five contextual systems that a child functions within. From this research one can see how each risk factor adds to the web of exclusion that makes these youth hard to identify, access and help. The findings indicate that there is a need to further investigate the South African child care grant system and the impact it has on access to schooling, as well as to develop macrosystemic interventions to alleviate poverty. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritburg, 2007.