Composing Lives in Transition

A Narrative Inquiry into the Experiences of Early School Leavers

Composing Lives in Transition: A Narrative Inquiry into the Experiences of Early School Leavers is structured around ten narrative accounts, each one offering glimpses into the lives of early school leavers from different backgrounds. Framed by the puzzling question of why someone would want to leave school early, the authors worked alongside youths from culturally and socially diverse backgrounds in order to understand their experiences and motivations in more depth. In doing so, however, the research team learnt that the stories are also as much about how early school leaving shaped their lives after they left education. By looking across the accounts provided in the book, paying particular attention to place, temporality and personal and social dimensions, the authors were able to identify resonant threads that enabled them to reframe a narrative reconceptualization of the phenomenon of early school leaving.