The purpose of this Bachelor's degree was to gather different methods how prevention of early leaving from upper secondary education has been carried out. The aim was that the subscriber of the thesis, Effective Mentoring -scheme, could benefit from the results of this thesis and support youth in risk of dropping out.

The theoretical background contained information about youth, upper secondary education in Finland, early leaving from education and consequences of dropping out. The research method used in this thesis was narrative literature review. The material was analyzed by dividing the material into themes. The themes were; changing the pedagogical methods, changing the structures, multi-sectoral co-operation, strengthening the education and career guidance, the role of the teacher or the mentor teacher and recognizing and supporting the risk groups.

In the results of this thesis the building of individual and flexible educational paths, the support and understanding of the mentor teacher and the importance of multi-sectoral co-operation were emphasized. Information about the factors leading to early leaving and the effective prevention measures should be added to the school staff's education, so that problems could be solved in an early state. Early leaving was found rarely to be result of only one reason but instead it was normally consequence of multiple stressful factors that had accumulated during a long period of time. As a conclusion it can be said that early prevention is a key factor in preventing early school leaving, but it is very hard to put into practice with the current resources and measures.