The Library
‘Who are you to know who I am?’: a comprehensive study of youth at risk
Tools
Schmitsek, Szilvia (2017) ‘Who are you to know who I am?’: a comprehensive study of youth at risk. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
|
PDF
WRAP_Theses_Schmitsek_2017.pdf - Unspecified Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (6Mb) | Preview |
|
PDF
Schmitsek_permission_correspondance-29-01-2019.pdf - Permissions Correspondence Embargoed item. Restricted access to Repository staff only - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (6Kb) |
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3184131~S1
Abstract
My research explored the educational experiences of young people who had been at risk of dropping out and/or who had dropped out of secondary education, and subsequently went on to obtain a qualification at a second chance provision. Second chance provisions are designed to support the acquisition of self-efficacy and career adaptability, which led them to pursue their career in higher education and/or in the labour market.
Social constructionism acts as an overarching theory because it postulates that knowledge is both situated and relative, which helps explore the situation of young people in different policy contexts. This thesis presents a comparative research study of comprehensive measures related to Early School Leaving (ESL) in Denmark, England and Hungary. The comprehensive strategies and policy contexts developed and implemented to combat ESL in these three European countries were found to be substantially distinctive when their differences and similarities were examined. The organisations offering second chance provision that were chosen for this research are all members of the Association of European Cities and Second Chance Schools (E2C), which implies that the teaching methodology is different from the mechanisms in use in mainstream education.
The doctoral research is based on comparative fieldwork in three urban areas, allocated pseudonyms as follows: Øresund City (Denmark), Paprika City (Hungary) and Grey Town (England). The fieldwork was carried out over the course of 14 months. Empirical data were collected from observations conducted in second chance provisions; a total of 28 interviews with former students; and a total of 21 interviews with a range of stakeholders including policy makers, teachers, and career counsellors.
By listening to the voices of former students, the analysis focusses on the relevance and importance of different sources of support with special regard to positive relationships, such as those between the teacher/career counsellor/social worker and the student, as well as peer support as motivators to sustain or re-establish engagement in education. Data analysis chapters concentrate on how young people described their career at school, their negative experiences in mainstream settings and their learning pathways in second chance provisions. Special attention was paid to their interpretations about the influences, which they considered beneficial to their careers in education and later in their adult life.
Interviews with these stakeholders and grass roots professionals were used to gain insight into the policy context of the three countries. The thesis concludes with policy recommendations based on the findings of the study.
My original contribution to knowledge is a qualitative cross-national comparative study, which focussed on students’ lives and career trajectories with a comparative lens in depth. Therefore, the qualitative research described herein had the potential to be more sensitive to the micro-processes of students’ experiences in education and in the labour market, and moreover, their impacts on young people’s well-being and future perspectives to give a more distinct image of dropouts in three different policy contexts
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Youth -- Employment, Dropouts -- Research, Dropouts -- Prevention, Dropouts -- Employment, Academic achievement -- Social aspects | ||||
Official Date: | 2017 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Institute for Employment Research | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Bimrose, Jenny,1949- ; Barnes, Sally-Anne ; De Hoyos Guajardo, Maria Guadalupe | ||||
Sponsors: | University of Warwick.Chancellor's International Scholarship | ||||
Extent: | vi, 258 leaves : illustrations | ||||
Language: | eng |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |