A study about upper secondary students’ and social science teachers’ opinion of student influence : A question of structure, content and youths will to participate

This dissertation was intended to give an account of students' and social science teachers' perceptions of student influence. The work has been based on two students, one who is active in structural forms of student influence and one who is not, and two social science teachers. The study was based on semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed on the basis of two theories of democracy that were supplemented by two ideas of democracy in the school world, participation in different forms and motivation to participate, teachers' understanding of social science in relation to student influence, and the political competence of young people. This has been done to answer the work's questions. In the analysis, several models have been used to categorize the interview responses based on the theories used. Research on student influence and the role of social science and its teachers in democratic education shows that students have pointed to a negative perception of student influence, and that teachers' democracy and subject understanding have an influence on the approach and use of democracy as theory and practice. In relation to this, this study shows a continuing trend of negative student perceptions of student influence, and that social science teachers' understanding of social knowledge in relation to student influence takes part of their work with democratic education