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Teachers Creating Success Stories: Alternative-Education Program for At-risk Students

Date

2020-04-28

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

ORCID

0000-0002-4829-0794

Type

Thesis

Degree Level

Masters

Abstract

Abstract Students who become at-risk of not completing school are among the most vulnerable in education systems. The circumstances that place them at-risk are multiple, varied and often beyond their control. For too long, these students have been falling through the cracks of education systems, dropping out and failing in school, because they are perceived through the lens of their inadequacies, their unfortunate situations, and inability to fit into the proverbial mainstream school mould. In this study, constructivist grounded theory was used to: examine the conditions six teachers of three alternative education programs identified as necessary for students at-risk to be successful; what six graduates of two of the three programs interpreted as meaningful and symbolic in the conditions created in their programs; and, ultimately, to generate or support prior theories that underly the conditions identified in these programs. The research participants’ description of their experiences in the three alternative programs, their multiple realities, and the associated subjectivities that emerged in the research process, including those of the researcher, were analysed. Using symbolic interactionism as an epistemological device, this research demonstrated that the teachers’ identification of the students’ inherent needs through the formation of caring relationships, adjusting academic expectations to meet students where they were, and constructing and maintaining an affective and supportive environment, increased the students’ ability to function and achieve success.

Description

Keywords

atudents at-risk, alternative education programs, ethics of care theory, constructivist grounded theory, symbolic interactionism, at-risk students, caring relationships, affective learning environment

Citation

Degree

Master of Education (M.Ed.)

Department

Educational Foundations

Program

Educational Foundations

Citation

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DOI

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