Main Content
Session Information
14 SES 04 A, Educational Trajectories of Young People – Attempts to Describe and Explain
Paper Session
Contribution
In contemporary societies, structured by increased differentiation and the weakening of prescribed social roles, individuation – the process of construction of a biographical singularity (Beck, 1992) - is an experience as fundamental as it is problematic. According to authors such as Martuccelli (2006) and Breviglieri (2007) individuation is carried out in a succession of trials in which the choicesmade and decisions taken, in a greatly amplified space of freedom, have deep implications in peoples social destinies.
The obligation to attend school, for increasingly longer periods of time, has transformed schooling into a crucial part of any young person's biography. In that sense, adolescent individuation takes place largely within the education system, and is defined through several schooling options. This is particularly true when young people reach upper secondary education, as this transition implies, in the Portuguese context at least, the definition of a personal project. The large freedom of choice offered to pupils constitutes a major singularity revealed by the Portuguese education system, when compared to most European systems that impose several constraints at this respect. This means that adolescents, whose identity is still provisional, are challenged with the “obligation” to choose (a type of education/a type of course among all those offered by the education system) and to project themselves in the future.
This is a complex task. First of all, it requires resources (informational, relational and planning skills) and the active support of agents (namely, the family) that not all adolescents have at their disposal. This reinforces the importance of both support networks and social and economic resources (Reay & Ball, 1998).
Secondly, as this process occurs in a particular period of time – adolescence – generally characterized by the adhesion to exploration ethics and the building up of a doubtful self, this may lead to a tension between biographical rhythms (based on exploration) and institutional calendars (based on compelling decisions), necessary to progress through the linear, cumulative cycles in which education systems – and school achievement – are based. An unavoidable question therefore emerges: in which ways institutional temporalities (embedded in the set of norms that regulate education systems) match the timings of self-construction and the development of competencies and identities?
This exact tension was the basis of a research study carried on since 2008 in Portuguese upper secondary schools. The theoretical framework inspired the construction of a model of schooling trajectories, supported by quantitative and qualitative data drawn from an empirical study with pupils from the 10th and 12th grade. Our main objectives in this paper are:
· To analyse school trajectories at upper secondary education, discussing different temporalities and their relation to different concepts of individual e school achievement
· To grasp social regularities and singularities in each trajectory’ protagonists, in terms of the role of contexts, supports and resources
· To explore the ways how the different trajectories are built, by relating social contexts and values and vocational choices and decisions made
This will lead us to discuss the potential tensions between “self-achievement” and “school achievement”.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bauman, Zygmunt. 2001. Community : seeking safety in an insecure world. Cambridge: Polity. ———. 2007. Liquid times : living in an age of uncertainty. Cambridge: Polity. Beck, U. (1992). Risk society : towards a new modernity. London: Sage. Beck, U., & Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2001). Individualization : institutionalized individualism and its social and political consequences. London: SAGE. Bois-Reymond, M. d. (1998). I Don’t Want to Commit Myself Yet: Young People’s Life Concepts. Journal of Youth Studies, 1(1), 63-79. Brannen, J., & Nilsen, A. (2002). Young people's time perspectives: from youth to adulthood. Sociology, 6(3), 513-537. Breviglieri, Marc. 2007. Ouvrir le monde en personne. Une antropologie des adolescences. In M. Breviglieri e V. Cicchelli. (ed) Adolescences méditerranéennes, Paris: L'Harmattan. Dubet, François. 2002. Le déclin de l'institution. Paris: Ed. du Seuil. Heinz, Walter R. e Helga Kruger. 2001. Life Course: Innovations and Challenges for Social Research. Current Sociology 49 (2):29-45. Leccardi, C. (2005). Por um novo significado do futuro: mudança social, jovens e tempo. Tempo Social, 17(2), 35-57. Leccardi, C. (2006). Facing Uncertainty. Temporality and Biographies in the New Century. In C. Leccardi & R. Elisabetta (Eds.), A New Youth? Young People, Generations and Family Life (pp. 15-40). Hampshire, Burlington: Ashgate. Martuccelli, Danilo. 2006. Forgé par l'épreuve. L’individu dans la France contemporaine. Paris: Armand Colin. Pappámikail, Lia. 2009. Juventude, Família e Autonomia. Entre a normal social e os processos de individuação., Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa. Pais, J. M. (2003). The multiple faces of the future in the labyrinth of life. Journal of Youth Studies, 6(2), 115-126. Reay, D., & Ball, S. J. (1998). 'Making their Minds Up': family dynamics of school choice. British Educational Research Journal, 24(4), 431 - 448. Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the self. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Programme by Networks, ECER 2021
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Network 6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Network 7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Network 8. Research on Health Education
Network 9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Network 10. Teacher Education Research
Network 11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance
Network 12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network
Network 13. Philosophy of Education
Network 14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Network 15. Research Partnerships in Education
Network 16. ICT in Education and Training
Network 17. Histories of Education
Network 18. Research in Sport Pedagogy
Network 19. Ethnography
Network 20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Network 22. Research in Higher Education
Network 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Network 24. Mathematics Education Research
Network 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Network 26. Educational Leadership
Network 27. Didactics – Learning and Teaching
Network 28. Sociologies of Education
Network 29. Reserach on Arts Education
Network 30. Research on Environmental und Sustainability Education
Network 31. Research on Language and Education (LEd)
Network 32. Organizational Education
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