| dc.description.abstract | Alternative schools offering full-time education for pupils who do not have a real offer in regular school, is a central part of many young people's everyday lives, but a silent field both in research and in the public debate. The purpose of this thesis is to open up and enhance the business in such an alternative school. By observing what teachers actually do, not just hear what they say they do, I have gotten a glimpse of what this ”hidden” social world can offer.
The main question of the thesis is "How do teachers in an alternative school work?" Furthermore, I ask questions about 1) what practices do teachers in the alternative school do? And 2) what kind of student understandings are expressed through these practices? Through participant observation, I have observed characteristics of teachers' practices, and through a focus group interview gained further understanding of the work they do and what vision they have regarding their pupils.
This study shows that the alternative school is not just an alternative venue for learning, but first and foremost an arena with an alternative content. All activities teachers do, are grounded in the fundamental idea that all students can master if the teachers adapt enough. To complete secondary school and make plans for the future are the main targets of the students who go here. Through interaction, to create a common understanding of time, a close and positively oriented cooperation with guardians, and an understanding of students as active participants in their own learning process, the teachers adapt their teaching in a way that facilitates the students’ feelings of mastery.
In efforts to prevent dropping out of school, I believe ordinary school can be inspired by a lot of the teaching work being done in the alternative school. The study shows that it is not necessarily large and structural upheavals that have to be done in order to ensure that also vulnerable students experience coping in ordinary school. | nb_NO |
