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: En kvalitativ studie om vilka faktorer elever och specialpedagoger talar om bidrar till att elever fullföljer gymnasiet

Abstract

Studies and inquiries have shown that the risk of dropping out of high school is alarmingly considerable. This results in significant costs for society and unnecessary suffering for the individual student who, without a high school diploma, has a harder time establishing themself on the labour market. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine what factors students believe would decrease the risk of dropping out of high school as well as the factors special educators consider to be contributing to students completing their studies and gaining their high school diploma. In this study, thirteen high school students participate in a survey selection and three licenced high school special educators as well as four students are interviewed. The study utilizes a quantitative survey as method for selection and semi structured lifeworld interviews as basis for a thematic analysis. The theoretical approach is the KASAM perspective / Sense of Coherence, (SOC). The result indicates three themes from the students’ perspective and three themes from the special educators’ perspective. The first of the students’ themes is The Student’s Health, which means that the student’s mental and physical health play a vital role in whether the student manages to complete high school. The School System Challenges is the second theme and it implicates that there are obstacles in the organisation which has a negative impact on the students. The teachers’ instructions or assignments might be unclear and students are expected to solve tasks on their own, which inhibits their achievements. The third theme is Social and Educational Support is the Key and it means that support from the school in the form of teachers, remedial teachers, special educators, tutors and friends can be crucial for student’s schooling. The result of the study implies three theme from the perspective of the special educators as well. The first theme, The Organisation Challenges, acknowledges the higher requirements where for example increasingly analytical assignments make school more difficult, that the school is not suited for every student’s needs and that the requirements of the school are not adapted to the students’ biological development. The second theme, The Student’s Conditions and Circumstances, means that the number of students with neuropsychiatric diagnoses has increased, while cognitive and structural difficulties in students in addition to their declining mental health, affects their performance in school. The last theme, The Importance of Support and Structure Assistance, means that a teacher’s positive expectations for and a good relationship with the students together with a school environment where teachers, remedial teachers, special educators, and tutors encourage, acknowledge and aid students with support and structure assistance is crucial to whether the students complete high school.

Date of Award	2022-Jun
Original language	Swedish
Supervisor	Tina Kullenberg (Supervisor) & Daniel Östlund (Examiner)