Young peoples’ own stories about dropping out in Norway: An indirect qualitative approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5617/adno.3182Keywords:
drop out, life stories, ethnographic, youth, school, frafall, videregående skoleAbstract
Mye forskning om skoleavbrudd i videregående opplæring ser på risikofaktorer, som sosio-økonomisk bakgrunn, grunnskolepoeng og kjønn, og kan derfor sies å fokusere på individuelle og strukturelle faktorer. Artikkelen argumenterer for heller å se på skoleavbrudd som et samspill eller møte mellom individet og systemet, det individuelle og strukturelle. Forskningen baseres på data fra en longitudinell kvalitativ studie i sitt fjerde år. Informantene er ungdom i NAV-systemet som har sluttet på videregående skole, men som fortsatt har skolerett. Gjennom den indirekte metoden, en intervjumetode basert på etnografiske intervjuer, søkes det å legge til rette for at ungdommene kan fortelle sine historier med egne ord og på sin måte. Disse fortellingene belyser avbruddsprosessene, og beskriver opplevelser forut for avbruddet. Funnene viser at selv om ungdommene sier dette skjer på grunn av enkelthendelser, belyser fortellingene deres at dette er komplekse prosesser som ligger til grunn, gjerne år tilbake. Artikkelen konkluderer med at sosialt medierte prosesser også utenfor skole, må vektlegges for å kunne forstå skoleavbrudd.
Nøkkelord: frafall, kvalitativ longitudinell studie, livshistorier, etnografisk intervju, ungdom, videregående skole
Abstract
Research on dropout from upper secondary school usually focuses on risk factors such as socioeconomic background, previous academic results and gender—that is, on individual and structural factors. The present article argues for a shift of focus, looking at dropping out as an interaction between the person and the system—between the individual and the structural. This research draws on interview data from a longitudinal qualitative study (now in its fourth year) of young people both in and out of school. The informants were young dropouts currently in the welfare system. Using the indirect method (developed from ethnographic interviews), the interviewer sought to establish an environment in which these young people could use their own words when sharing their stories. Those stories provide an insight into the processes and experiences prior to the event of dropping out. The findings show that although young people describe dropping out as a singular event, their stories indicate complex preceding processes, often from some years before. The article concludes that socially mediated interactions between the individual and the structural, both inside school and out of school, must be considered when seeking to understand why young people drop out.
Keywords: dropout, qualitative longitudinal study, life stories, ethnographic interview, youth, upper secondary school
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Content published in Acta Didactica is - unless otherwise is stated - licensed through Creative Commons License BY-NC-ND 4.0. Content can be copied, distributed and disseminated in any medium or format under the following terms:
Attribution: You must give appropriate credit and provide a link to the license
Non-Commercial: You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
No derivatives: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
No additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notice: No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
Authors who publish in Acta Didactica accept the following conditions:
Author(s) retains copyright to the article and give Acta Didactica rights to first publication while the article is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. This license allows sharing the article for non-commercial purposes, as long as the author and first publishing place Acta Didactica are credited.
The author is free to publish and distribute the work/article after publication in Acta Didactica, as long as the journal is referred to as the first place of publication. Submissions that are under consideration for publication or accepted for publication in Acta Didactica cannot simultaneously be under consideration for publication in other journals, anthologies, monographs or the like. By submitting contributions, the author accepts that the contribution is published online in Acta Didactica.