Andalusia has significantly reduced the early school-leaving rate. According to the latest figures, it stood at 15.69 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, down from 21.63 per cent in 2019. The data come from the Labour Force Survey (EPA) of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (EPA). In the nationwide comparison, the region remains above the average, but has seen a steady decline for several years.
The Junta de Andalucía attributes this trend to a range of measures, particularly additional staff resources at schools in socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods. In the so-called Zonas de Transformación Social according to the government, 1,015 additional teachers have been deployed at primary and secondary schools this school year. A further 328 school guidance professionals support programmes for emotional wellbeing, inclusion and individual support. These figures are drawn from the regional government’s public communications; no independent impact analysis of the measures has yet been published.
At the same time, schools and local stakeholders point to the role of volunteers. In Seville, in the Polígono Sur, volunteers referred to in reports as “hadas madrinas” regularly support lessons at the CEIP Nuestra Señora de la Paz. They help children learn to read and do maths, and integrate into school life. Teachers say that this kind of ongoing support can boost motivation and reduce absences – effects that are particularly significant in neighbourhoods with high levels of poverty. These assessments are based on participants’ experiences; publicly available quantitative evaluation data for individual projects are not systematically reported.
The EPA figures show a positive trend, but regional disparities within Andalusia persist. Experts point out that early school leaving is closely linked to household circumstances, employment prospects and the living environment. Measures that improve teaching quality and school engagement are therefore particularly effective where poverty, informal work and overcrowded housing coincide.
From a policy perspective, continuity and coordination are key: structural support from schools and targeted social policy should work together with municipal and civil society initiatives. The published data do not allow the recent decline to be clearly attributed to increased staffing, local volunteering or economic factors. Further analysis of the EPA and independent impact evaluations are considered necessary to reliably determine the contribution of each measure.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).