How can we strengthen students’ social relations in order to reduce school dropout? An intervention development study within four Danish vocational schools

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Vibeke Asmussen Frank¹  Tine Tjørnhøj-Thomsen²  Liselotte Ingholt²  Teresa Friis-Holmberg²  Line Zinckernagel²  Susan Andersen²  Morten Hulvej Rod²  Betina Bang Sørensen²  Christiane Stock³ 

[1] Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Bartholins Alle 10, 3, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark;Centre for Intervention Research in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Øster Farimagsgade 5A 2nd floor, DK-1353, Copenhagen K, Denmark;Unit for Health Promotion Research, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Vej 9, DK-6700, Esbjerg, Denmark;

关键词: Vocational school;    Young students;    School dropout;    Intervention development;    Ethnographic research;    Field study;    Social practice;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-015-1831-1

 received in 2014-07-28, accepted in 2015-05-12,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThis article describes the rationale and contents of an intervention program aimed at strengthening students’ social relations in order to reduce dropout from vocational schools in Denmark. Taking its theoretical cue from the concept of ‘social participation’, a qualitative study was performed to investigate the specific relationships between the social environment within the schools and the institutional structures in order to analyse reasons for school dropout and their relation to well-being, cigarette smoking and substance use.MethodsThe development study was based on ethnographic methods, including 22 qualitative interviews with students 17–19 years old and fieldwork with participant observations at four vocational schools over 40 days, including informal interviews and discussion meetings with managers, teachers, counselors and students. As part of the fieldwork, four additional qualitative interviews and four group interviews were conducted with students 16–25 years old.ResultsThe qualitative data collection resulted in seven major themes to be addressed in the intervention: social relations, sole focus on professional skills, institutionalized individualization, importance of the introduction period, physical surroundings and schedules, tobacco and cannabis use and communication about drug use. The program addressing these themes incorporates suggestions that are meant to improve how teachers welcome new students, to enable greater integration of social and educational activities and to enhance the capacity of teachers and counselors to deal with drug use problems among students.ConclusionThe development of new intervention programs might benefit from adopting a theoretical and methodological perspective that enables a closer exploration of the everyday social practices in which interventions are embedded. Thus, we aimed to create a comprehensive intervention that worked through organizational changes in everyday school practices. Intervention programs must be planned in dialogue and collaboration with practitioners in the field to ensure the pertinence and usability of the program.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Ingholt et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015