Young people experiencing persistent disengagement or employment are known as Early School Leavers (ESL). Though we know many of the challenges they face (wellbeing difficulties, social exclusion), their learner identities are less explored. Said differently, ESLs often see themselves as ‘bad’ learners. I propose a framework to address this problem which marries learning contexts, critical pedagogy, and intersectionality.

Seeing oneself as a ‘good learner’ is impacted by how social identities (e.g., gender, neurodiversity) are enabled or suppressed across formal, non-formal, and informal contexts. Suppressing identities in formal settings (e.g., school) can lead to feeling oppressed (“I am a bad learner”). Enabling them elsewhere (e.g., a non-formal community club) can be empowering (“I am a good learner”).

My framework can support Early School Leavers by outlining how the interplay of learning contexts and social identities can cause experiences of oppression or empowerment. It can also help young people realize ‘meaningful learning’ extends beyond formal contexts and occurs in non-formal (e.g., community clubs) and informal (e.g., spending time with friends) ones too. By making all this naturally occurring, ‘invisible’ day-to-day learning ‘visible’, my framework can help ESLs develop positive learner identities: they already are ‘good learners’ – they just don’t realise it.

Keywords: Early School Leaving, Young People, Learning Contexts, Intersectionality, Critical Pedagogy.