Experiences of participation and influence of students in upper secondary education. : An interview study

The purpose of this study is to describe the extent to which a few upper secondary education students experience participation and influence in school on a daily basis. To be able to answer this, three question formulations have been used. How do the students describe their own influence and participation in their normal school days? What do the students want to influence? According to their own experiences, what can be seen as an obstacle or an opportunity for participation in school? The study is based on semistructured private interviews with students from the Swedish national program in upper secondary education for pupils with learning disabilities. To identify the students description of their own experiences, the transcribed material has been interpreted using Roger Hart's participation ladder. The results of the study show that the amount of influence students believe they have in school is based on how much they have a say in deciding the setup of their school days. For the most part, the students do not believe that they have that much influence, rather it is the teachers who decide almost everything that happens in school. The students believe that they have the most influence during their recesses and their free time. The students show a desire to be more involved in their school days. The results also show that students wish to be more involved in what is going to happen in the future after upper secondary education. Despite this finding the things students want to have an influence over are few based on their age and experiences. The results also reveal that one obstacle for student participation is that they do not tell their teachers if they have any ideas for improvement, which in turn limits their involvement