The students’ need for belonging and support has increasingly been addressed in research on dropouts from upper secondary school and in public debate. Although previous research on factors such as gender, social class, and immigration background is still present, the focus today is ever more on the difference that teachers, family, and friends can make in supporting and enabling for students’ completion rates. The aim of the proposed paper is to examine whether any differences in completion and non-completion rates are to be explained by how they connected to their teachers, parents, and friends in the days of their upper secondary schooling.

The paper focuses on students in the vocational track where the drop-out rate remains a concern throughout Europe. Support from teacher, friends, and family is mapped in their second year of upper secondary school (age 17-18 years old) and their completion/non-completion rates are examined yearly from the age of 20 to 28. The analyses are based on survey data from almost 500 students at the vocational track in Oslo/Norway in 2010. The students’ completion rates are analysed by administrative data from 2013-2020.

The results show that support from teachers, family, and friends do not differ between those who completed upper secondary school and those who did not. The paper discusses alternative explanations and any importance for educational policies.

Keywords: Education, vocational, drop-out.