Download full text
(205.3Kb)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-53469-5
Exports for your reference manager
Three Types of Tightrope Dance in the Comeback Process: Preliminary Findings from a Longitudinal Study of Young People at the Margins of Upper Secondary School in Norway
[journal article]
Abstract Fewer than half of the young people attending vocational institutions in Norway complete their education within the allotted five years. Indeed, many of these students have non-linear paths to completion. However, it is not changes in the dropout rate that make this different from earlier generation... view more
Fewer than half of the young people attending vocational institutions in Norway complete their education within the allotted five years. Indeed, many of these students have non-linear paths to completion. However, it is not changes in the dropout rate that make this different from earlier generations but the expansion of formal education and the rise of the knowledge society and individualisation. The term “tightrope biographies” is used here to encapsulate why individualisation cannot be thought of in terms of choice, because today’s youth are often held accountable for their educational progression rather than this progression being viewed as dependent on institutional mechanisms. The present study characterises young people as “tightrope dancers” in their interactions with vocational schools. Selected data collected from ethnographic interviews during the ongoing longitudinal project Youth, Completion and Dropout in Telemark are used here to capture the voices of young people. These data focus on the non-linear educational careers of these youth when they re-enter schools and explore the stories they tell about dropping out and re-entering. These stories suggest that, to succeed, students need customised support throughout the process from school to the workplace and that many depend on this support. The study identifies three different ways of understanding these students as tightrope dancers trying to get back on track, characterising them as The Steady, The Shaky and The Shivering.... view less
Keywords
adolescent; course of education; school success; dropping out of school; vocational education; biography; individualization; knowledge society; qualification requirements; Norway
Classification
Sociology of the Youth, Sociology of Childhood
Free Keywords
School Leavers; Tightrope Biographies; Continuing Vocational Education and Training; Re-entry Students; Pushout
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
Page/Pages
p. 146-163
Journal
International journal for research in vocational education and training, 4 (2017) 2
DOI
https://doi.org/10.13152/IJRVET.4.2.3
ISSN
2197-8646
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0