Locating the subject and subjectivity in preventing desertion in higher education

Abstract

this article analyzes a variety of academic models from retention to persistence in pro of permanence, emphasizing those that are bolstered by psychological and interactional approaches such as the self-determination theory. This theory and the offshoot models that have hence been proposed were reinterpreted in order to propose three categories, which introduce qualitative criteria from the psychoanalytic standpoint, to study factors associated with academic permanence taking into account the students subjectivity. The subjectivity inclusion in the student permanence models opens a field of investigative work that has not been sufficiently studied as the current retention models that seek to prevent in masse desertion are generalized, utilizing factorial methodologies that ignore the case- by- case analysis. The omission of each subject’s singularity in the models could be one of the reasons they have not been as effective as hoped.

Keywords

• permanence
• retention
• persistence
• motivation
• self-determination
• subjectivity
• discourse
• symptom