Understanding disengagement through student voicesthe case of a vocational school

Resum

Several factors may lead to school disengagement and dropout. Understanding this process can help schools identify and work with young people at risk of disengaging before this comes entrenched. This thesis reports to the seven stages and results of a research that used vocational school students as co-researchers to investigate the phenomenon of engagement and disengagement at a vocational school. Following the premises that young people have unique perspectives on learning, teaching and schooling, we have built a research design in which all data was collected, analysed and coded by students who were engaged in a 3-stage process of analysis: selecting, contextualising, codifying. First findings of this research show that by analising data, students identified and critically discussed problems, naming ways to change the situation, thus showing the student agency: that when they are asked to participate in their own learning process, change can happen and schools can locally work to reduce dropout. Also, results show why we might include students as co-researchers when analyzing the processes of school disengagement, and dropout.