| Summary: | This study explores the facilitation of completion of
high school for students who experience the risk of dropping
out. The purpose of the study was to develop a comprehensive
scheme of categories to describe what facilitates completion
from the perspective of high school students. An adaptation
of The Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) was used.
Sixteen categories emerged from an analysis of incidents.
The soundness and trustworthiness of the categories were
tested. Results indicate that completion can be facilitated
by emotional support and guidance, respect from teachers,
opportunity to participate and get help, goals setting for
the future, encouragement of autonomy and responsibility,
recognition, participation in the arts or sport, and reward.
What remains to be confirmed is the helping value of several
categories that were novel, such as identity development
through social comparison. Anecdotal information that was
consistently observed in the contents of the interviews was
included and discussed. Participants made suggestions to help
other students struggling to complete high school. This
study suggests promising developments in high school
completion which have implications for research, practice and
curriculum design in counselling and education.
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