Session Information
05 SES 06, Urban Education & Children and Youth at Risk
Paper Session
Time:
2009-09-29
10:30-12:00
Room:
JUR, HS 15
Chair:
Ruth Leitch
Contribution
The main topic of my presentation is the analysis of selected aspects of life orientation in the youth from the educational risk group.
A person’s global orientation is most important for their activity and actions. It is to a large extent decisive for the course of human life. It consists both of the person’s orientation in the outside world and their orientation in themselves.
The development of life orientation is particularly intensive in adolescence. The goals and expectations formulated in this period of life are mostly related with education, job, family and material goods.
The process of creating concepts of one’s own future is not only connected with cognitive development but also depends on the social context. As we know, Poland has been undergoing violent and distinct social and political transformation in the last quarter of a century. From among the descriptions of Polish reality, we may distinguish two distinct tendencies. The first one presents the Poles as the uncertain society with a constant sense of risk, a particular anomia in case of which apathy, passivity and resignation are natural reactions while a demanding attitude and pessimissm complement this culture of complaints (Sztompka 1996, Kwiecińska-Zdrenka 2004). The other characteristic is predominantly focused on acting, activity and success. In this ideology of success, education, learning and job occupy a particular place.
How does a young generation of Poles function in the new reality? How do young people cope with problems? Is the shaping of their educational and professional expectations associated with pessimism and doubts or rather with courage and confidence in their own potential? These questions are undoubtedly important for educators, teachers and tutors who directly influence the shaping of the adequate level of aspirations and emotions related with the realisation of these aspirations.
In this paper, I would like to present only the selected aspects of opinions and expectations formulated by the youths, which are particularly important for them, i.e. educational and professional expectations. The presented results of research refer to a particular population, namely students from educational risk groups. This group is formed by young people who have at least once failed to be promoted to the next grade. They are mostly students characterised by extensive educational and didactic difficulties. It seems that their situation is quite particular, if we take into account a very high position of education in the hierarchy of values of a young modern Pole.
Method
My empirical research has concentrated on the following questions:
1. How do students from the group of educational risk evaluate the future of the Polish society?
2. How do the subjects from the group of educational risk assess their own present life situation?
3. How do the youths from the group of educational risk perceive their own future?
4. What educational expectations are formulated by the subjects from the group of educational risk?
5. How do the young people from the group of educational risk perceive their future professional situation?
An extended survey form was used in the research. It was administered with 1460 people at the age of 13 to 24, students of all types of schools. For this research have been chosen schools from large, central city agglomerations and from small peripheral rural communities in the south of Poland.
Expected Outcomes
The obtained results have shown considerable differences in the evaluation by students of themselves and their own life situation in two compared groups, i.e. youths without considerable school problems and youth from the group of educational risk. In the light of this data, the tendency of students from the group of educational risk to exclude themselves was observed. This phenomenon is particularly important in the analysis of the process of social marginalisation of the youth. If the particular elements of this phenomenon are grasped at the initial stage of development, it increases the chances of success of the planned preventive and educational influence.
References
Kwiecińska-Zdrenka M. (2004) Aktywni czy bezradni wobec własnej przyszłości? Toruń: UMK Sztompka P. (1996) Zaufanie: warunek podmiotowości społeczeństwa (w:) Gorlach A. / Seruga Z. (red.) Oblicza społeczeństwa. Kraków: UJ
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