Year Of Upper Secondary School Research Articles

Political emotions in a literature classroom

ABSTRACT The democratic potential of literature education has often been accentuated. In this article, we draw on Gert Biesta’s subjectification conception of democratic education, and view democracy as a concept open for (re)negotiation in the classroom. We are informed by Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic democratic theory, and its view of dissent as a foundational aspect of democracy, in that the struggle itself constitutes the identities of the opponents. Agonistic proposals for democratic education also pay attention to political emotions in the classroom. We pair agonism with Sara Ahmed’s view of emotion as performative to explore how power, identity and emotions are entangled in a student group and how this entanglement is integrated in the students’ conceptions of democracy. The students were in their last year of upper secondary school in Sweden. We analysed audio recordings from three group interviews with a total of eleven students. The interviews followed a literary discussion about the short story ‘Farangs’ by Rattawut Lapcharoensap, which was video recorded. The analysis shows that students referred to emotion when constructing the collective identities of themselves and their opponents, and that the power relations between these collective identities influenced what literary interpretations were centred in the discussion.

A cross-sectional study of variations in schoolwork stress in academic upper secondary school classes in Mid-Norway.

This paper investigates stress related to schoolwork among students in academic upper secondary schools. The research questions asked are: 1. To what degree does students' schoolwork stress vary between academic classes?; And 2. are perceptions of classroom goal orientation, academic achievement, sex and parental education related to schoolwork stress? A cross-sectional survey was done in the final year of upper secondary school in 71 school classes from 13 schools. A total of 1955 students in academic education programs were invited to participate in the survey, and 1511 completed the survey; the response rate was 77%. The outcome measure was a composite measure of schoolwork stress (alpha = 0.81). Multilevel modeling was used to estimate school class-level effects. The mean value of schoolwork stress was 4.0, on a scale of 1 (very little schoolwork stress) to 6 (very high schoolwork stress). About half of the students reported a score of 4 or higher. The analysis showed that individual characteristics explained most of the variation in schoolwork stress. Girls experienced a much higher level of schoolwork stress than boys (mean values of 4.3 and 3.6, respectively). There was also a significant class-level effect, estimated to 6% of the variance. Students' perceptions of classroom goal orientation was also associated with schoolwork stress. The main contribution was the discovery of significant variations in schoolwork stress between school classes. We also found that higher mastery climate was linked to lower schoolwork stress, whereas higher performance climate was linked to higher schoolwork stress.

A New Assessment Approach for High School Students in Cameroon

The purpose of this study was to provide the Cameroonian educational community with a new evaluation approach capable of including in the mentalities of students entering the first year of the second cycle in secondary education. To do this, we carried out, in turn, a bibliographic work, data collection in the field, then data processing, followed by the drafting of the final document. Evaluation approaches in the Cameroonian education system are changing. Parents, teachers, and administrators of academic institutions deplore the behavior of students entering the first year of upper secondary school; in fact, they shine with their casualness. For them, the context, due to the absence of an official exam at the end of the school year, makes the level concerned a level of resting. The project-based evaluation system appears here as a solution trial that should be responsible for creating a challenge, specific to the second cycle. Thus, facing this reality, students will have to understand that a new variety of efforts are now required of them to leave the second cycle with solid skills in the conducting projects. The project based evaluation system will count for the third quarter. His mark will represent 75% of the final mark for the subject.

Vitamin D Status During Adolescence and the Impact of Lifestyle Changes: 2 Years' Follow-up From the Fit Futures Study.

Longitudinal data regarding vitamin D status in adolescence is scarce. This study presents population-based data from an Arctic adolescent population (n = 589) at 16 and 18 years. The aims of this study were to investigate changes in vitamin D status during 2 years in adolescence, and whether lifestyle changes were associated with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (s-25(OH)D) at follow-up. Fit Futures is a longitudinal study at 69°N in Norway. Participants had their s-25(OH)D levels analyzed in their first and third year of upper secondary school (median age 16 and 18 years), in Fit Futures 1 (FF1) and Fit Futures 2 (FF2), respectively. Self-reported lifestyle habits were registered through questionnaires. The association between lifestyle changes and s-25(OH)D levels at follow-up were calculated by regression analyses, controlling for baseline s-25(OH)D levels. Longitudinal data were available for 309 girls and 280 boys. The proportion of adolescents with s-25(OH)D <50 nmol/L were 73.7% in FF1 and 77.1% in FF2, while the proportion <30 nmol/L constituted 35.7% in FF1 and 40.9% in FF2. Of those with s-25(OH)D <30 nmol/L (severe vitamin D deficiency) in FF1, 73.3% remained severely deficient in FF2. Among boys, an increase in UV exposure was significantly associated with higher s-25(OH)D levels in FF2 (beta; CI [nmol/L] 12.9; 9.1, 16.7). In girls, decreased vitamin/mineral supplement intake was significantly associated with lower s-25(OH)D at FF2 (-6.7; -10.2, -3.1), while increased UV (10.8; 7.0, 14.7) and combined hormonal contraceptive exposure (12.1; 6.0, 18.1) in FF2 was significantly associated with higher s-25(OH)D levels in FF2. Severe vitamin D deficiency was prevalent throughout adolescence. Lifestyle changes may alter s-25(OH)D levels in this age group.

School's out for summer-Differences in training characteristics between adolescent biathletes of different performance levels.

The purpose of this study was to retrospectively describe the longitudinal changes of training variables in adolescent biathletes based on performance level. Thirty biathletes (15 men and 15 women) were included in the study and categorized as either national level biathletes (NLB, n = 21) or national team biathletes (NTB, n = 9). Retrospective training data was collected from training diary covering the biathletes' four years (Y1-Y4) as student-athletes at upper secondary school. Training data was divided into physical and shooting training variables. A linear mixed-effect model was used for comparing the difference of the performance group and year of upper secondary school on training characteristics. The NTB group achieved a greater annual training volume than the NLB group, especially during Y4 (594±71 h·y-1 vs 461±127 h·y-1, p < 0.001), through an increase in duration of each session and by completing more weekly training volume during the general phase (13.7±4.6 vs 10.0±4.9 h·w-1, p = 0.004). No difference was observed in relative training intensity distribution between the groups. The total number of shots fired was also greater for the NTB (9971±4716 vs 7355±2812 shots·y-1, p = 0.003). There was an equal frequency in illness and injury for both the NLB and NTB. Accordingly, the results of the present study describe longitudinal changes of biathlon training in adolescent biathletes that also may affect performance development.

Completion of upper secondary education: Predictions of the psychosocial learning environment and academic achievement

BackgroundLack of upper secondary school completion (dropout) is a serious concern. Psychosocial factors of the learning environment, such as perceived emotional support from teachers and loneliness among peers remain largely unstudied as predictors of completion. AimsThe main aim of this five-year longitudinal study was to investigate whether psychosocial learning environment factors experienced early in upper secondary school contribute to the likelihood of school completion; either directly, or indirectly via academic achievement. SampleParticipants were 1241 upper secondary school students in Norway. MethodsA longitudinal panel design combining register data and student self-reports was implemented. Register data included GPA from the end of lower secondary school, GPA from the end of first of year of upper secondary school, and upper secondary school completion. Self-reports included perception of emotional support from teachers and loneliness among peers in the first year of upper secondary school. Control variables were gender, study track, and immigrant background. A structural equation model with completion (vs. dropout) as the outcome was estimated in Mplus. ResultsAn indirect positive effect on completion was found for emotional support from teachers, mediated by subsequent academic achievement. A direct negative effect on completion was found for loneliness among peers. Among students with pronounced loneliness, completion rate was 10 percentage points lower than among those reporting no loneliness. ConclusionsLoneliness among peers was identified as a substantial risk factor for school dropout. On the other hand, findings indicate that sufficient perceived emotional support from teachers can promote completion.

Preventing Loneliness and Reducing Dropout: Results from the COMPLETE Intervention Study in Upper Secondary Schools in Norway.

This study examines the impact of interventions aimed at improving psychosocial health on students' perception of a caring school climate, their feelings of loneliness, and school completion in Norwegian upper secondary education. Two intervention conditions were tested: a universal single-tier intervention focused on improving the psychosocial school climate: the Dream School Program, and a multi-tier intervention combining the Dream School Program with a targeted measure, the Mental Health Support Team. The direct and indirect effects of these interventions on school completion were analyzed using structural equation models (SEM), with data from 1508 students (mean age at Time 1: 17.02 (SD = 0.92); 60.7% girls; 72.1% Norwegian-born). The results indicated that loneliness levels did not differ significantly between the intervention conditions. However, students in the multi-tier intervention group reported a significantly higher perception of a caring school climate compared to those in the single-tier intervention group. The multi-tier intervention group had a lower rate of school completion compared to the control group and the single-tier intervention group. The SEM analysis revealed that the multi-tier intervention reduced loneliness in the second year of upper secondary school by promoting a caring school climate in the first school year. In contrast, the single-tier intervention was associated with increased loneliness due to a decrease in the perception of a caring school climate. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The development of sentence complexity in the writing of young learners of L3 Spanish in Norway

This article explores the development of sentence complexity in the writing of young learners of Spanish as the third language (L3) learned in Norwegian schools. Learning to write in a foreign language is a complex process, and a novice learner will start to write simple sentences that develop over time. To track this development, the present study investigates texts written by learners of Spanish from the first and second year of upper secondary school (school years 11-12, ages 16-17) as their ordinary schoolwork. The texts are collected as part of the TRAWL (Tracking Written Learner Language) corpus and show how learners write in an authentic school context. To address sentence development, the use of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions is analyzed. The findings indicate that most pupils use y (and) and pero (but) to coordinate clauses. In subordinate clauses, que is frequently used to introduce relative clauses and porque to introduce causal clauses. There are only a few examples of a more varied use of conjunctions, indicating individual differences in the process of developing sentence complexity. The studied features are estimated to be acquired at the A1 level in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), while the pupils in this study are expected to be at the A2 level. The findings show that there may be a discrepancy between the pupils’ actual knowledge and the expected knowledge according to the reference levels.

PE as resonance? The role of physical education in an accelerated education system

ABSTRACT This paper explores how students understand physical education (PE) as a subject in the Danish upper secondary school (USS) and discusses the role of the subject after the Danish USS reform of 2017. The paper presents a 6 months’ field study of PE lessons in 2 Danish upper secondary schools. Both schools were located in the Danish capital area. A total of 42 Lessons in 4 PE-classes [N = 240] were observed throughout the 6 months and 8 focus group interviews were conducted with students [N = 54] at the end of the field study. We are inspired by the theoretical contribution of Hartmut Rosa to analyse how students understand physical education (PE) and critically discuss and reflect upon the how this understanding relates to the structure of PE as a USS subject in the light of the political development in the Danish upper secondary schools for the past decades. The study has shown that most students value the subject because it represents a place of resonance during an otherwise accelerated everyday life. At the same time, the USS reform of 2017 gives PE a smaller role in the overall curriculum. However, PE is now, for the first time, an exam subject after the third year of USS. Therefore, the article contributes to a debate regarding the consequences the increased focus on achievement may have on the subject as a place of resonance.

Accumulation of health complaints is associated with persistent musculoskeletal pain two years later in adolescents: The Fit Futures study.

There is limited knowledge on the association between different health complaints and the development of persistent musculoskeletal pain in adolescents. The aims of this study were to assess whether specific health complaints, and an accumulation of health complaints, in the first year of upper-secondary school, were associated with persistent musculoskeletal pain 2 years later. We used data from a population-based cohort study (the Fit Futures Study in Norway), including 551 adolescents without persistent musculoskeletal pain at baseline. The outcome was persistent musculoskeletal pain (≥3 months) 2 years after inclusion. The following self-reported health complaints were investigated as individual exposures at baseline: asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic eczema, headache, abdominal pain and psychological distress. We also investigated the association between the accumulated number of self-reported health complaints and persistent musculoskeletal pain 2 years later. Logistic regression analyses estimated adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). At the 2-year follow-up, 13.8% (95% CI [11.2-16.9]) reported persistent musculoskeletal pain. Baseline abdominal pain was associated with persistent musculoskeletal pain 2 years later (OR 2.33, 95% CI [1.29-4.19], p = 0.01). Our analyses showed no statistically significant associations between asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic eczema, headache or psychological distress and persistent musculoskeletal pain at the 2-year follow-up. For the accumulated number of health complaints, a higher odds of persistent musculoskeletal pain at the 2-year follow-up was observed for each additional health complaint at baseline (OR 1.33, 95% CI [1.07-1.66], p = 0.01). Health care providers might need to take preventive actions in adolescents with abdominal pain and in adolescents with an accumulation of health complaints to prevent development of persistent musculoskeletal pain. The potential multimorbidity perspective of adolescent musculoskeletal pain is an important topic for future research to understand the underlying patterns of persistent pain conditions in adolescents.

Upper Secondary School Students’ Design of Arguments in Essays

This article explores how arguments are made in student essays through the use of writing and visual resources. The data set comprises 54 essays with a passing grade from students in their final year of upper secondary school in Sweden. The data is analysed using a multimodal approach to knowledge representation on arguments in essays, involving analysis of textual composition and content in both written text and visual resources. The study gives an insight into how students design essays in relation to academic requirements, how their arguments realise epistemological commitments, and what affordances are given through the use of writing and visual resources. The results reveal that academic argumentation varies considerably between the essays. There is an overrepresentation of written and declarative knowledge in the essays, where the arguments are grounded in various web-based sources, and visualisations are used for making conceptualisation and classification more salient in writing. Both written and visual resources offer affordances in the making of arguments on the bases of the modes for communication. This article concludes that there are many high demands of knowledge defined for the task of preparing for higher education, which are not easily represented in the students’ arguments in essays.

The role of teacher actions for students’ productive interaction solving a linear function problem

Many studies in mathematics education have emphasized the importance of attending to students’ interactions, particularly, their mathematical reasoning when collaborating on solving problems. However, the question of how teachers can facilitate students’ productive interactions for learning mathematics, is still a challenging one. This case study aims to provide detailed insights into opportunities and limitations related to teachers’ actions for the productivity of students’ interactional patterns solving a linear function problem together. Four student-pairs in the first year of upper secondary school (11th grade) serve as a background on students’ interactional patterns, which in this study focused on three interactional aspects: collaborative processes, mathematical reasoning, and exercised agency. The student-pairs’ three teachers provide insights on teacher actions observed as different funneling and focusing actions, which elucidated opportunities and limitations in several situations influencing the productivity of students’ interactional patterns. The study used purposive sampling in selecting the particular school and three teachers, which were chosen based on acquaintances and willingness to participate in the study. The students’ interaction when solving the mathematical problem and the teachers’ interaction with the pairs were video recorded and observed by the researchers. The analysis method was a deductive analytical strategy, where specific events of interactions were identified, based on the three interactional aspects combined with teacher actions. Coding schemes on students’ interactions were used, as well as on teacher actions. The findings indicate that teachers’ actions and questions influenced students’ interactions, but mainly their reasoning, and particularly the primary agent’s reasoning. Moreover, students who were engaged in interactional patterns called bi-directional and one-directional did not change their ways of interacting after a teacher interaction. Thus, the teachers’ actions did not impact students’ collaborative processes and agencies in the same way as their reasoning. This study adds to the field of mathematics education by illuminating the importance of teachers being aware of students’ roles when they work together, for facilitating a productive interaction for both students in dyads. The study highlights the importance of further research on teacher actions and teacher awareness for facilitating collaborative situations of bi-directional interactions for students’ shared understanding of mathematical concepts and ideas.

Low social acceptance among peers increases the risk of persistent musculoskeletal pain in adolescents. Prospective data from the Fit Futures Study

BackgroundMusculoskeletal pain has a high prevalence in adolescence and causes huge consequences for the individuals and the society. Little knowledge exists on social risk factors for musculoskeletal pain in adolescents. This study aimed to investigate if low social acceptance among peers during the first year of upper secondary school was associated with persistent and severe persistent musculoskeletal pain 2 years later and if psychological distress modified this association.MethodsLongitudinal data from the Norwegian Fit Futures Study was used. Students in the first year of upper secondary school answered an electronic questionnaire, covering health status, pain, social acceptance among peers, and psychological distress. Persistent musculoskeletal pain was measured 2 years later. Multiple logistic regression analyses and moderation analyses were conducted adjusting for sex and chronic diseases. Main analyses were conducted on participants without persistent musculoskeletal pain at baseline, and secondary analyses were conducted on all participants with and without persistent musculoskeletal pain at baseline.ResultsOf 775 participants (52% females), 556 (71.7%) were pain-free at baseline and included in the main analyses. Significant associations between low social acceptance among peers and persistent musculoskeletal pain 2 years later were found in crude (Odds ratio (OR) = 1.8, 95%CI [1.0–3.1]) and adjusted analyses (OR = 1.8, 95%CI [1.0–3.2]). No statistically significant effect modification of psychological distress (p = 0.89) on this association was found. A significant association between low social acceptance and persistent musculoskeletal pain was found in adjusted secondary analyses of all the students (n = 692) (OR = 1.6, 95%CI [1.0–2.3]).ConclusionsOur results indicate that low social acceptance among peers increases the risk of future persistent musculoskeletal pain in adolescents. Thus, interventions strengthening adolescent’s social arenas may be helpful to prevent persistent musculoskeletal pain.Trial registrationRetrospective registered at clinicaltrials.org NCT04526522.

Alcohol use in adolescence: a qualitative longitudinal study of mediators for drinking and non-drinking

Initiation of alcohol use often takes place in adolescence. This longitudinal study explores adolescents’ alcohol use by highlighting mediators in their network that either hinder or facilitate alcohol consumption. Qualitative individual interviews were conducted with 75 adolescents (age 15–16) during their final year of lower secondary school (LSS), and their first year of upper secondary school (USS) (age 16–17), amounting to 150 interviews in total. Three drinking practices were identified during the transition from LSS to USS. The abstainers did not drink either in LSS or USS. They emphasized negative effects of alcohol and ascribed their non-drinking to the mediating role of parental expectations, sports and school achievements, and weak social ties. The initiators started to drink in USS and described increased acceptance, availability, peer pressure and social benefits as mediators for alcohol use initiation. The drinkers drank alcohol in both LSS and USS, and the mediators for drinking ranged from curiosity and social lifestyles to personal vulnerability traits. This study identified hindering and facilitating mediators for drinking, but also highlighted blurred boundaries between drinking and non-drinking: non-drinkers recognized social benefits associated with drinking, and drinkers highlighted control and responsible drinking alongside the pleasure and social benefits of drinking.

Can social support compensate for missing family support? An examination of dropout rates in Italy

AbstractSchool dropout limits the development of human capital, and despite the achievement of a third level degree being a common practice in western economies, the dropout at the secondary level is still a relatively widespread phenomenon in Italy. The household support to young people is relevant in influencing young people's educational opportunities, but nevertheless, this support sometimes is lacking in a country that has historically attributed little importance to advanced education. In Italy, the scarcity of school‐related support mechanisms is one of the causes of a dropout rate of more than 15% after the first year of upper secondary school in some regions. We suggest that another support may be necessary in society, and it could be integrated with family support. We test whether three different forms of social capital can counteract the dropout of young Italians considering regional data and using fixed and random effects models and a two‐stage least squares approach for Centre–North and South Italy. The results suggest that social capital does not function as a mechanism to counteract dropout in Italy, while the family's cultural‐economic background plays an important role, mainly in the Centre–North.

Large scale studies of holistic professional competence in vocational education and training (VET): The case of Norway

Context: In this paper, we review and discuss the piloting in Norway of a German methodology for competence diagnostics in vocational education and training: the Competence Development and Assessment in TVET (COMET) project. Our overarching theme is determining to what extent such large-scale assessment systems are valid for international comparisons in this sector. Method: We present the theoretical underpinnings of the COMET model and position our discussion within the broader context of the concept of “professional competence” (berufliche Kompetenz) and methodological guidelines for its measurement. Terminology from psychometrics on “measurement equivalence” is described and serves as a template for identifying challenges in using the Norwegian data for comparative purposes. Our pilot included students and apprentices in health care, industrial mechanics and electricians and was designed as a three-year follow-up study from the second year of upper secondary school through two years of apprenticeship. Each year, a test on professional competence and a context survey were administered. Similar studies have been conducted in Germany, China and South Africa.Results: In line with the results from these countries, the Norwegian participants had low scores, particularly the electricians. However, the diagnostic instrument was sensitive to the development of professional competence, and progress on the assessment was influenced by the quality of the learning support in the companies, as reported by apprentices in the context survey.Conclusions: The COMET platform may be a viable prototype for the development of diagnostic tools, which may support the monitoring of quality factors at different levels and inspire local improvement projects in schools, companies and training offices. Such an objective would be in line with the latest summaries of the COMET project, in which its contribution to a model for international large-scale assessment is toned down and replaced by a stronger emphasis on its potential for measuring competence development, evaluating contextual factors and generating data for didactic innovations.

Examining boys' and girls' health-related quality of life from the first to the third year of upper secondary school: A prospective longitudinal study.

AimTo examine differences in health‐related quality of life between boys and girls in the first and third years of upper secondary school.DesignProspective longitudinal study.MethodsThe KIDSCREEN‐10 was used to assess health‐related quality of life. Differences in health‐related quality of life over time were estimated using a linear mixed‐effects model for correlated measurements.ResultsIn the first‐year boys (N = 168) and girls (N = 228) reported a mean health‐related quality of life score of 76.3 (SD 10.7) and 69.8 (SD 11.5), respectively. In the third year, the mean health‐related quality of life score for boys and girls was 73.5 (SD 12.4) and 65.7 (SD 13.3), respectively. Boys had a significant decrease in health‐related quality of life mean score of −2.6 and girls a significant decrease of −3.8 (p < .001) over the 3‐year period. There was no significant difference between boys’ and girls’ health‐related quality of life changes (p = .39).

Everyone in school: The effects of compulsory schooling age on drop‐out and completion rates

AbstractThis article analyses the effect of the Berlinguer reform that was introduced in Italy in 1999 and increased compulsory schooling from eight to nine years. Hence, students had to attend school until the age of 15 instead of 14 that was required at the time and therefore to attend at least one year of upper secondary school (for pupils with a regular career). Using data from the Labour Force Surveys (1993–2010) and applying counterfactual time series and segmented regressions, we evaluate the effect of the reform on attendance and graduation rates. The results show that prolonging compulsory education encouraged a larger share of 16‐year‐olds to stay in school, especially those who were judged more at risk with less educated parents and with parents with a low occupational status. However, at age 17, part of the effect had already vanished and no effect was found on graduation rates. The compulsory schooling policy may have been more effective in adjusting the legislation to already existing student behaviour than in producing relevant changes in educational decisions.

Exploring visual communication and competencies through interaction with images in social media

Abstract The students of today are surrounded by visual information, online as well as offline. This study examines visual communication and active competencies when interacting with longer-lasting images in social media. Focusing on one focus student in upper secondary school in Finland, the ethnographic data consist of 41 images that the focus student interacted with, by liking or sharing, on Tumblr and Instagram during school time. The data are collected during 3–5 consecutive days once a year during the focus students three years in upper secondary school. Three interviews function as secondary data. Drawing on visual ethnography and different levels of messages in visual material, the analysis shows that the focus student interacts with images in a way that communicates the kind of persona the focus student wishes to convey in social media. Thus, the findings indicate that four competencies are active while interacting with images in social media: visual competency; technical competency; knowledge of social norms; and knowledge of self. Therefore, we claim that there are active competencies when interacting with images on social media and that this should be considered in the educational discourse on youth as media users.

Physically inactive adolescents’ experiences of engaging in physical activity

Purpose: This study aimed to describe physically inactive adolescents’ experiences and reflections about engaging in physical activity.Methods: Nine graduate students from the third year of upper secondary school (six women and three men) participated in this study. Narrative interviews were used for data collection and qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the interviews.Results: The analysis revealed three themes ‘Acknowledging resistance and barriers to performing physical activity’, ‘Knowing that it is good is not enough’, and ‘Feeling included and accepted is fun and motivating’. These themes show that the adolescent’s experienced barriers, acknowledged pros and cons and identified possibilities to be physically active.Conclusions: Identifying experiences that impact on inactive adolescents’ attitude and willingness to perform physical activity can be useful to understand the needs of the individual. By relating these experiences to the different stages of the transtheoretical model, this study could provide valuable knowledge for designing future interventions to enhance physical activity in this target group.