The study lays the foundation for the ensuing development work of the Tell Your Story project. It sums up the results of national and transnational desk-based research activities. The state of the art focuses on three key areas, firstly the current situation regarding prevention of, intervention against, and compensation of early leavers from education and training in the countries participating in the project (FR, AT, BE, SI, UK, IT) and in other European countries and at European level.