Kasvatuksellisia ja kuntoutuksellisia katsauksia ... - Opetusministeriö

Katja Komonen
ERILAISET OPINTIET
Tutkimus ammattikouluopintojen keskeyttämisestä osana nuoren
koulutusuraa
Abstract
Katja Komonen: Different Educational Paths - A Study of Dropping Out of Vocational
School as Part of a Young Person's Educational Career.
This article examines key problems relating to dropping out of vocational school.
Dropping out will be treated from the perspective of symbolic interactionism and
individual life course. We will look at dropping out as a process, and discuss the
significance of dropping out to the educational career and life course of the individual.
The research material consists of the life story and thematic interviews of ten
former drop-outs who had resumed studying.
The analysis of the material revealed that dropping out is a long process, which
involves anxiety about school going, and experiences of being labeled as a loser.
In analysing the educational life stories, three types of school goers were formed to
describe the action orientation of the drop-outs, i.e. school tolerators, survivors of
disappointment, and students with insecure identities. With the help of these ideal
constructions it was possible to identify forms of action, and modes of perception.
The results of the study indicate that dropping out is not an action which necessarily
leads to social exclusion. For most young people, the time period after dropping
out included meaningful work experiences, which clarified vocational goals,
and motivated them to acquire occupational qualifications. Entering adulthood and
making decisions about one's occupation is a great challenge to young people, and
often difficult in today's transformed society. Particularly for young people with poor
school performance, choosing one's occupation often takes place in several
stages. With these young people, the real decisions concerning occupational
choice are made well after the time when they first face selection to secondary
education. In studying the phenomenon of dropping out, we should not look for one
cause only, but instead see dropping out as part of a larger frame of action, as a
process in the individual's life course.
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