At the same time, there is a stronger upward trend in the education attainment levels of women than men and in almost all Member States women in the younger age groups have attained a higher level of education than their male counterparts. Some Member States lie significantly above this average. Furthermore, there are also alarmingly high rates in certain urban or peripheral areas as well as in disadvantaged social groups. In the learning society, social stratification is increasingly based on a division between the haves and have-nots in terms of skills and qualifications. Dropping out from school, therefore, has much more lasting consequences than it had in the past, since it can mark an individual for life and greatly narrow the range of career choices open to them.
Schools are at the centre of the learning society and life-long learning begins there.
Failure at school affects all sections of society, but not all equally. Surveys show that those dropping out of school come predominantly from low-income families where there is a history of failure. Many come from broken homes or from immigrant or refugee families which have not integrated successfully. Dropping out of school is, therefore, related to a range of social, health, family and financial factors. Although it is only one element of a cumulative process of social deprivation, it is often the critical one which deprives young people of the skills, qualifications and social contacts required to succeed or even to play a meaningful role in society.