Browsing by Subject "osallisuusympäristö"

The function of this study is to find out what kind of discourses of participation can be found in a middle school student counsil meeting. The purpose was to study what kind of positions do the students take and give to others in interaction when participating in decision-making, and also to find out what kind of environment of participation do the students build around them through speaking. The base theory in this study is a viewpoint of participation as an experience of an individual and sosio-constructional understanding of reality as made up of social interaction. The research method was qualitative case study. The data collecting method was observation by way of videotaping. Analysing method was discourse analysis. In this study there was 12 participants age 13-15 who were part of a student council functioning in their school. In the student council meeting that I recorded the students discussed what could be done improving on students wellbeing in school. In the meeting there was a discourse of institution including understanding one's role primarily as a source of information. Students saw strick frames for their functioning in school system set from above. They also saw their relations to teachers through a role differentiation of supervised - supervisor. They also sustained an institutional image of the school including gloominess of the school building, lack of funds and discomfort during lessons. They were not willing, or capable, to question this image of school. There was also a youth-discourse including the pressure to fit in and underlining one's freedom to choose their lifestyle.