Skule-heim samarbeid og utdanningsval - Føresette som ressurs og utfordring - Eit kvalitativ studie av samarbeidet mellom skule og heim om elevar i ungdomsskulen sin studievalsprosess i samanheng med faget utdanningsval

Abstract

This Master’s thesis is concerned with educational cooperation between the school and the homes (school-home) with regards to the school subject ‘utdanningsval’. It focuses on reflections and experiences regarding secondary school pupils’ processes of choosing future studies and careers by key actors in and outside of the school, here represented by study supervisors, teachers and parents from the school’s parental group (FAU). I have chosen a qualitative design for the thesis, based on interviews with fourteen informants from three secondary schools in Møre og Romsdal. There exists a substantial amount of previous research that emphasises school-home cooperation and the school subject ‘utdanningsval’, separately, but there is currently not much research focusing on the two in combination. This makes the foundation for this project and the thesis the following: Which perspective do parents and key actors within the school have regarding school-home cooperation about secondary school pupils’ processes of choosing future studies and careers and the school subject utdanningsval? The results from the project finds that the school subject can represent a form of change that is reflected in the school’s focus on the school-home relations. This can be narrowed down to two perspectives: “the resource perspective”, where the school subject is seen as a useful tool and a possibility to contribute to support the pupils in their process through cooperation with the parents, and “the challenge perspective”, where the school subject is seen as a source of disturbance that becomes more difficult in cooperation with the parents. The schools that show a more positive attitude towards this change finds the school subject and cooperation with the parents more useful than the schools that are less eager to involve the parents in the school subject. The school subject also shows a potential new arena for cooperation with the parents, although it simultaneously seems to disturb some of the already existing values and opinions about what kind of responsibility the school and the parents should have with regards to the pupil’s processes of choosing future studies. The findings in this study can contribute to draw more attention to the resource perspective towards parents and their supporting role and challenges during the process where students have to choose future studies and careers. This is also a supplement to the debate about preventing drop-outs by empasising the importance of school-home cooperation and the responsibility the schools have to create the foundation for a productive school-home relationship.