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- Lindgren, Joakim, Dr, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Moving on from a remedial or intermediate trajectory? On the critical transition from lower to upper secondary school
- 2022
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim: The aim of the paper is to increase the understanding of preconditions for leaving a remedial or intermediate trajectory and entering a regular upper secondary route based on young people´s experiences from such a transition.Background and theoretical approach: The large numbers of young Europeans who do not complete an education at least at upper secondary level constitute a substantial problem, as this tends to be associated with poorer economic, social and health prospects than for other youths and young adults, and means considerable societal costs (Brown et al. 2021, Noorani 2017). In 2020, 16% of all 20- to 24-year-olds in the European Union (EU 27) had not completed upper secondary education (USE); in Sweden a slightly higher proportion, 17% (Eurostat 2022). Consequently, a multitude of preventive, interventive and/or compensating measures have been implemented to raise the level of young people with completed USE (Oomen and Plant 2014).In the project ‘Governance of Educational Trajectories in Europe’, Walther et al (2015) identified five broad and overlapping constellations of educational trajectories, four of them called smooth or discontinuous academic (1-2) and vocational (3-4) trajectories, respectively. Finally, (5) the remedial or intermediate trajectory (RIT) denotes young people who for various reasons do not succeed in lower secondary education and therefore attend interim courses and compensatory schemes. Sometimes, particularly in comprehensive systems, these measures are designed to enable a return to ‘regular’ education and training, in other cases they may rather serve as storage places (ibid.). The Swedish introduction program (IP) is such an institutionalised interim or compensatory measure. Positioned at upper secondary level, its overriding aim is helping students becoming eligible for a 3-year national academic or vocational programme or prepared for working life. The municipalities are obliged to offer the IP, decide on an education plan and individual study plans (SFS 2010). In general, the local level has considerable freedom to organise and design the IPs. Here we look at students at two (of four) IP tracks: the language introduction (LI), focusing the Swedish language, and the individual alternative (IA) preparing the student for upper secondary or other education, or getting a job.Students following a RIT generally have more limited choice opportunities than students in other trajectories. However, and in line with Walther et al (2015), is important to recognize their agency, decision-making and experiences to understand preconditions for a successful transition to upper secondary education. However, such a youth-oriented approach is rare in the research on students at risk of leaving school before finishing an upper secondary education (Schmitsek 2022). In our analysis, we combine two complementary approaches: (a) the decision-making constellations identified by Walther et al (2015): timing and dynamics, young people´s strategies, criteria of decision-making, actors involved, and choices and constraints, and (b) careership theory (Hodkinson and Sparkes 1997) and a learning career perspective on young people´s trajectories and career decisions (Bloomer & Hodkinson 2000, Hodkinson 2008). The combined approach helps analysing young people´s descriptions and understandings of attending the IP, and transiting to a regular USE program or, in some cases, municipal adult education and/or work.Methods/methodology: The paper is based on two sets of interviews with 31 young people, normally 18 to 20 years old. The informants attended the IP program in six schools located in six municipalities, selected to cover a variety of local contexts, e.g., concerning access to upper secondary and tertiary education, and jobs. Two municipalities were situated in rural regions, two consisted of smaller cities (15 – 40, 000 inhabitants) and two were within commuting distance to one of the three largest cities.The first round of interviews was conducted in the schools during the first year at the language introduction (20 students) and the individual alternative (11 students). The second round consisted of follow-up interviews with the same students, undertaken via zoom or telephone because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The interviews were semi-structured, using an interview guide developed by the research team, recorded and transcribed. As our research interest to large extent concerns the young people´s experiences of proceeding from IP to a regular vocational or academic program, the follow-up interviews provide a major source of information, which is complemented with information from the first round of interviews. The interviews are analysed in two steps, the first consisting of a comprehensive reading to capture the totality and recurrent themes, the second building on central concepts of careership and learning careers, and the constellations of decision-making identified by Walther et al.Expected outcomes: This is still work in progress. In a first-step analysis of interviews with ten young people from two of the six municipalities, we find that the transition from the IP to an upper secondary program is challenging. It means a shift to larger classes, higher study pace and less teacher support than was offered in the IP. The students often describe a sense of belonging in the IP context, but this is less common in the new educational environment. The presence of supportive and friendly staff at IP is often underlined as helpful for succeeding to next step and getting guidance about career choice alternatives. Finally, our first results points to a need to split the rather broad RIT configuration of transitional processes into two: remedial and intermediate. One group of students, many entering IA, have a trajectory framed by severe and long-term school failure due to learning difficulties often interwoven with social- and/or health problems. In different ways their remedial trajectory emphasise factors associated with rehabilitation and therapeutic dimensions. Another group, more often LI students, may require significant compensatory training and some even have experiences of poverty and trauma. However, such problems are not dominant aspects of their biographical narratives and self-understanding. Their decision-making centres on credentials and their trajectory is transitional or intermediate.Intent of publication: This study will be reported in a coming book in Swedish, and we also intend to publish an article in an international journal.References: Bloomer, M. & Hodkinson, P. (2000). Learning Careers: continuity and change in young people’s dispositions to learning. British Educational Research Journal, 26 (5), 583-597.Brown, C., Olmos Rueda, P., Costas Batlle, I. & Gairín Sallán, J. (2021) Introduction to the special issue: a conceptual framework for researching the risks to early leaving, Journal of Education and Work, 34(7-8), 723-739.Eurostat (2022). At least upper secondary educational attainment, age group 20-24 by sex [TPS00186]. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tps00186/default/table?lang=enHodkinson, P. (2008). Understanding career decision-making and progression: Careership revisited. John Killeen Memorial Lecture Woburn House, London 16th, October 2008.Hodkinson, P., & Sparkes, A. C. (1997). Careership: a sociological theory of career decisionmaking. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 18(1), 29-44.Noorani, S. (2017). Structural indicators on early leaving from education and training in Europe – 2016, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, 2017, Eurydice. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/788496Oomen, A. and Plant, P. (2014) Early School Leaving and Lifelong Guidance. ELGPN Concept Note No. 6. European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network. http://www.elgpn.eu/publications/browse-by-language/english/elgpn-concept-note-no.-6-early-school-leaving-and-lifelong-guidance/Schmitsek, S. (2022) ‘Who are you to know who I am?’ Comparing the experiences of youth at risk of dropping out in England, Denmark and Hungary, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 52(2), 173-191.SFS (2010). Act of Education 2010:800.Swedish Research Council (2017). Good Research Practice. https://www.vr.se/english/analysis/reports/our-reports/2017-08-31-good-research-practice.htmlWalther, A., Warth, A., Ule, M. & du Bois-Reymond, M. (2015) ‘Me, my education and I’: constellations of decision-making in young people’s educational trajectories, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 28(3), 349-371.
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