Mokinių išgyvenimai keičiant mokyklą ir jų vertinimas švietimo sistemos tobulinimo kontekste
Pupils' Experiences Accompanying School Transition and Evaluation of These Experiences in the Context of Educational System Improvement

Summary/Abstract: The model of school, which used to function in Lithuania some time ago, was the unified general education school model. After 1990 the situation has remarkably changed. Now a person striving to acquire general education must pass from one school to another at least once. And it is not only the number of normative school transitions (i.e. transitions conditioned by the educational system) that is increasing but also the number of non-normative ones (determined by needs of the pupil and his/her family and other conditions). This situation creates a premise for the occurrence of a new urgent problem in the policy and practice of education, whose solution requires scientific research. However, in the research and school system improvement projects conducted so far they pay poor attention to pupils’ opinion. Whereas pupils are the main customers of the school and satisfaction of their needs is the prime condition of the quality of education. Therefore the object of the research we have chosen is pupils’ experiences accompanying school transition. The research aims to reveal pupils’ positive and negative experiences during school transition. For the purpose of this study we used a qualitative retrospective design, namely, an unstructured interview. During this interview we asked adult people to recall their experiences during school transitions. The sample of the research included 45 adults (23 men and 22 women) of 19 to 40 years old. The data gathered were analysed by content analysis method, distinguishing categories and subcategories of positive and negative experiences. Hence, we conducted a phenomenological research focusing on the variety of experiences of people who passed from one school to another some time ago. 40 of 45 respondents stated that school transition was accompanied by certain positive experiences for them. We distinguished five categories of pupils’ positive experiences during school transition, namely, 1) wider and closer social relationship at school (n = 29), 2) passing to a more favourable study and living environment (n = 20), 3) higher academic expectations and achievements (n = 8), 4) better opportunities for self-actualization and self-perfection (n = 6), 5) warmer relationship with parents (n = 2). Almost all the respondents, except one, acknowledged that their school transition was accompanied by negative experiences in one or some of the following areas: 1) strain in their relationship with classmates (n = 42), 2) strain in their relationship with new teachers (n = 23), 3) feeling of loss (n = 23), 4) discomfort due to moving to a new residence place (n = 13), and 5) discomfort concerning the school premises and schedule (n = 3). ...

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