CAUSES AND REASONS FOR LEAVING A DISTANCE GRADUATION COURSE AT A FREE PUBLIC STATE INSTITUTION

Abstract

In this article, we deal with the dropout phenomenon in higher education, more precisely in the distance modality of the Pedagogy Course. In the search for the main causes and reasons for dropping out, it appears that students may have different motivations when they decide to drop out of the course. Thus, in this work, the objective is to present the causes and reasons raised in the research carried out in 11 (eleven) distance education centers in the state of Santa Catarina/BR. Electronic questionnaires were sent to professors, face-to-face tutors and dropout students, as a way to identify the main reasons for dropping out in the period 2015-2020 at a state university. At this stage, an understanding was sought of why the student interrupts the course in a public and free institution. The research was characterized as mixed (quali-quanti). For the treatment of the data, the resources of the Likert scale were used for the classification of the data and the content analysis defended by Bardin (2016). The analyzes of qualitative and quantitative data were discussed together, in order to understand the findings of the research. The results indicate that there are several reasons: geographic distance, excess of materials in the disciplines, internet difficulties at home and at the center, non-adaptation to the methodology, interpersonal relationships, financial issues, among others.