Browsing by Author "Kurkela, Annina"

The purpose of this thesis is to describe how the phenomena of agency and control occur in an action research study of school satisfaction. The main focus is on the description about agency and control given by pupils as they contemplated the satisfaction of transitioning to lower secondary school. Another area of interest is action research as a method that supports the agency of the pupils. A sixth grade from a village school that emphasizes the learnercentred pedagogy took part in the research in the spring of 2016. The action research consisted of four stages: introduction and conceptualization, data collection, analysis and individual reflection. In this thesis, the data consisted of a group discussion of the analysis stage and the pupils' individual reflection tests. Content analysis was used in analysing the discussion and texts of the pupils when examining what kinds of occurrences of agency and control could be detected. When finding out what kinds of initiatives of agency the pupils took in interactive situations, the analysis of interaction was used in analysing the group discussion with a focus on initiatives. In the conversation of the pupils, the most essential matters concerning control were the school rules and teachers who made sure that the rules were followed. Control was seen as a restriction to creativity but also as something that brought safety. The talk about breaking the rules together was an essential thought that reflected agency through opposition. Freedom and independence for studying as well as for transport was hoped for. The answers reflected the youth's need for independence and its meaning for each individual's school satisfaction. The initiatives varied and changed quickly in the interactive situation of the action research. For example, the pupils would take initiatives of supporting each other's ideas by repeating the same idea. However, in constructive initiatives they started to modify an idea presented by someone else. In group discussion, dividing and opposing initiatives took place, which occurred, for instance, by focusing too much on the details or rejecting another person's idea. There is a pedagogical contradiction in everyday school life. On the first hand, pupils should be guided to become independent agents but on the other hand, a safe school environment should be maintained for everyone. The purpose of this study was to bring this pedagogical paradox to the fore and to clarify in a concrete way what kind of agency and initiatives concerning it can occur in everyday life, and how all these matters are interwoven into the pupils' school satisfaction.