| dc.description.abstract | The topic for this master thesis is dropout prevention in secondary school. The research question concerns how NAV (the Norwigean labour and welfare administration) and secondary schools work on dropout prevention, both in theory and in practice. We have investigated this by interviewing people at a specific school (Rudbeck) involved in a dropout prevention measure called “Experiment with NAV-advisor in secondary school.” We have interviewed those who initiated the measure, the employees and NAV-advisors involved in the measure at the school, as well as pupils who have received counsel from these advisors. The empirical part of the thesis explores the dropout narratives of informants and how they experienced the dropout prevention measures taken at their school. In order to answer our research questions, we compared our informants’ ideals regarding dropout prevention to what is done in practice, and we found some discrepancies between the two.
One discrepancy is that while the employees of the school try to normalize individual facilitation for the pupil, the pupils still feel a strong pressure to complete their studies within the standard time allotment. A second discrepancy is that while employees hold it as a norm to include the pupils in the school, some pupils feel that discussing social issues such as dropping out of school is taboo. A third discrepancy is that the employees at the school strive to orient the pupils about reality, but at the same time they rarely discuss dropout issues with the pupils. A fourth discrepancy is that the informers believe that the dropout prevention measure should accomplish what it sets out to do but feel that, in practice, it is difficult to find clear indicators that it does. A fifth discrepancy is that while the informers feel that the NAV-advisors’ work should reduce dropout rates at the school, in practice, the advisors’ workday is affected by discussions about visibility and the marketing of their services. A sixth and final discrepancy concerns participants’ ideals regarding interdisciplinary cooperation, and that the project would benefit from more interdisciplinary cooperation than currently occurs in practice.
We see that the experiment at Rudbeck secondary school has three implications that make the experiment neither a success nor a failure; integration of the NAV-advisors at Rudbeck, interdisciplinary cooperation, and the focus on pupil inclusion. | nb_NO |
