Dropping out and a crisis of trust

This article focuses on the high dropout rate in the Danish vocational education system. The article seeks to analyse the dropout problem using the concept of trust. By taking this perspective on the dropout problem, the article seeks to replace the hitherto-dominant deficit of understanding within the Danish dropout research, which has focused on the so-called crisis of motivation in which students are regarded as lacking sufficient motivation to complete a vocational education. It is asserted that the strong focus on students’ lack of motivation contributes to individualizing and psychologizing the dropout problem. On the basis of the concept of trust forwarded by thinkers such as Luhmann, the article seeks to redefine the dropout problem as a problem of trust, thereby aiming to introduce a more comprehensive and relational understanding of student dropouts. The assertion that trust and distrust are key dimensions of the dropout problem is supported by results from an interview study in which 108 Danish school students were interviewed on completion and dropping out and in light of a tangible account of the shift from a motivational to a trust-based perspective. Three conditions are set forth as central themes relative to the student dropout process. These are (1) the primary school’s lack of relevance for a group of students, (2) the numerous free riders in vocational education and (3) a lack of work placement spaces.