| Summary: | This bachelor thesis explores two programs available on the Swedish high school market. The aim is to compare the most common program with the smallest; a program decreasing in numbers every year. The programs are the humanistic program, being the smaller and the social science program, being the larger. The reason to why the humanistic program is so small while being similar to the social science program is researched through the results of a survey sent out to schools all over the country. This is of interest since both the programs intend to lead the pupils to study at a university, but the pupils at the social science program tends to not continue their studies as often as the pupils on the humanistic program. Earlier studies and theories show that a pupil’s social background such as family, interests, values, educational institutions, future, and abilities affect the choices pupils make when picking high school and program. The theorists Patton and McMahon call these “influences”. Picking a high school and a program is structural tuning point according to Hodkinson and Sparkes, and the completion of upper secondary school is unavoidable whether the pupil is mature or not. The results show that the main difference between the two programs is the influence interests, when presented with a choice of different subjects the group from the smaller program in general had a higher interest in the subject offered at their program. The results of the study also showed that some of the pupils on the social science program did not know or hardly knew anything about the humanistic program. This led to the discussion to whether the schools and guidance counsellors are doing enough to prepare the pupils for the turning point that is the step from upper secondary school to high school. If not, a suggestion could be to use Patton and McMahons System theory framework-model to help pupils visualize their habitus and the influences that surround them.
|
|---|
