A critical exploration of the school context for young adolescents completing primary education

Abstract

Many schools have adopted relational approaches to attend to the social context in which learning transpires. More recently however, such approaches and their supporters have been criticized for not examining the school context in its entirety and the student experience within this context. The current research sought to critically explore young adolescents’ experiences within the context of their school. Fifteen year seven students in an Australian primary school were interviewed about their experiences of their school context. The data were analysed using a thematic analysis and a question-ordered matrix was constructed to aid the detection of themes and sub-themes from the data. Three major themes were identified as a result. These included: the people within the school context, the social roles of the adolescents’, and the values the school espouses. These findings suggest that there are a number of factors in addition to relational aspects within the school context that impact on young adolescents. This exploratory qualitative study offers a ‘counter adult-centric’ view of young adolescents’ experiences within their school. It also illustrates the potential value in transforming the school context to provide opportunities to experience influence, responsibility, self-determination, meaningful participation and community within the school.

Muchas escuelas han adoptado los enfoques relacionales para ocuparse del contexto social en que aprender transpira. Más recientemente sin embargo, tales enfoques y sus partidarios han sido criticados por no examinar el contexto escolar en su totalidad y la experiencia de estudiantes dentro de este contexto. La investigación actual buscó explorar críticamente las experiencias de adolescentes jóvenes’ sobre el contexto de la escuela. Quince estudiantes del septimo grado de una escuela primaria Australiana fueron entrevistados acerca de sus experiencias en el contexto de la escuela. Los datos se analizaron utilizando un análisis temático y una matriz ordenado por pregunta se construyó para ayudar el descubrimiento de temas y sub temas de los datos. Tres temas principales se identificaron como resultado. Estos incluido; las personas dentro del contexto de la escuela, los papeles sociales de los adolescentes’, y los valores que la escuela desposa. Estos hallazgos sugieren que hay varios factores además de aspectos relacionales dentro el contexto escolar que impactan a adolescentes jóvenes. Este estudio cualitativo exploratorio ofrece una vista ‘contra céntrica de adulto’ sobre las experiencias del contexto escolar de adolescentes jóvenes’. Ilustra también el valor potencial a transformar el contexto de la escuela para proporcionar las oportunidades de experimentar la influencia, responsabilidad, la autodeterminación, la participación y la comunidad significativas dentro de la escuela.

Keywords:

• school context
• adolescents
• Australia
• qualitative methods
• power
• community

el contexto escolar:

• los adolescentes
• Australia
• los métodos cualitativos
• el poder
• la comunidad

This paper is based on the Honours thesis of the first author conducted under the supervision of the subsequent authors. We would like to acknowledge and thank the students for their enthusiasm and informative participation; their experiences make the study. Much gratitude is also owed to Mr Vincent Vincello, the principal of the school, for his continued support and interest. Finally, we would like to acknowledge and thank Maria Fernandez for translating the abstract into Spanish.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sasha A. Stumpers

Sasha A. Stumpers recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) with First Class Honours and is currently enrolled in the Master of Psychology (Community) programme at Edith Cowan University. During the writing of the thesis she was employed as a Psychological Health and Education Assistant for a programme working towards integrating severely alienated youth back into mainstream school

Lauren Breen

Lauren Breen is a lecturer in the School of Psychology at Edith Cowan University. Her research focuses on the transformation of systems and systemic influences on individuals and the collective. In particular, her focus is on schools, higher education and grief

Julie Ann Pooley

Julie Ann Pooley is a lecturer in the School of Psychology at Edith Cowan University. Her current research is focusing on communities facing natural disasters, through which she is trying to determine what enables communities to become resilient to impending threats. She is also interested in the area of environmental education and attitudes towards the environment

Lynne Cohen

Lynne Cohen is a lecturer in the School of Psychology at Edith Cowan University. Her background is in teaching where she was head of the Biology and sub-head of the Mathematics departments. She has developed and implemented a literacy programme for children with learning difficulties. In addition she has trained and led a team of teachers to provide a service for students with learning difficulties. Dr Cohen is interested in successful outcomes for students at school and the effect of migration on individuals and their families

Lisbeth T. Pike

Lisbeth T. Pike, Associate Professor, is the Coordinator of the Community Psychology Stream in the School of Psychology at Edith Cowan University. She has taught and researched in the tertiary education sector in Australian since 1975. Dr Pike is an educational and developmental, clinical and community psychologist who is interested in all aspects of lifespan development but with a particular interest in children and families